By Bertha Badu-Agyei
Accra, July 21, GNA – Madam Ida Ajoa Asiedu, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Candidate for Ayensuano, said the Party is poised to reclaim the Ayensuano seat, from the National Democratic Congress (NDC), come December 2024.
For her, winning the primaries to become the parliamentary candidate was a strong indication that everything that happened in the past leading to the loss of the 2020 NPP parliamentary candidate had been resolved and victory awaited the party.
The Ayensuano constituency has been a stronghold of the NPP, from 2000 until 2020 when the NPP’s three-time Member of parliament Mr Samuel Ayeh-Paye, lost with a slim margin to Mr Teddy Saforo Addi of the NDC.
Even though President Nana Akufo-Addo won in the presidential with 22,915 votes as against Former President Mahama who polled 15,823 votes, the incumbent MP polled 18,970 votes to succumb to Mr Teddy Addi, who garnered 19,211 votes, in the 2020 general elections.
After losing to the incumbent MP in the first attempt, Madam Asiedu, a 40-year-old mother of three and an entrepreneur, won the NPP primaries to contest as the parliamentary candidate for the 2024 elections.
In an interview with the GNA Gender-desk, the parliamentary candidate said until 2020 when she first came to the limelight to contest in the constituency primaries for the parliamentary candidature, she had always been a strong party member, supporting the party’s activities behind the scenes.
“I have been involved in the party’s activities not only in the constituency alone, for a long time, but I have always supported on the quiet and kept my profile low until 2020 when I decided to offer myself for representation,” she said.
According to the candidate, she had been offering support to the constituency to improve the living conditions of the people and mentioned the re-shaping of a 12-kilometre feeder road in the constituency as to her credit.
Ayensuano is a farming community, which contributes to Ghana’s food basket, but have problems with roads from the hinterlands to facilitate carting of farm produce to the markets for sale.
Madam Asiedu, who is passionate about women and youth empowerment, is constructing a paper tissue factory estimated to employ about 300 direct workers at Asuboi in the constituency, to create jobs for the youth and improve the local economy.
Madam Asiedu, the first female to contest for parliament in the constituency, said she was bringing on board “true leadership with a human face and quality parliamentary representation to improve the living conditions of the people.”
Sharing her view on the Affirmative Action agenda, she said it was critical to provide such legal structures to support women who have the zeal to go into politics adding, “the terrain is not easy for women at all, especially venturing into governance and political leadership positions.”
She appealed to the electorate in the constituency to rally behind her especially the women, to bring a new leadership and representation needed to change the narrative of the constituency.
GNA