MP says he owes Jerry Rawlings no favours

Hon. Nii Armah Ashittey,

Hon. Nii Armah Ashittey, the Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle Constituency in the Greater Accra Region is seething with anger over claims of his ingratitude to former President John Rawlings.

The MP told Joy News he owes the Rawlings' particularly, ex-president John Rawlings no favours and did not enter into politics a destitute.

"Today somebody can come and tell me I should show gratitude to Jerry Rawlings. For what? Why should I? I served Ghana, I didn't serve Jerry Rawlings.

"In any case when i was coming into politics, i was not looking for jobs. I was doing well in my job. I never stayed in this country for two months without going abroad. What are they talking about? They should go and ask Jerry Rawlings whether i owe him any favour. I do not owe him any favour," he said at a press conference held Monday.

It was the first press conference organised by the embattled MP after he proceeded to court to challenge the Parliamentary primaries he lost to the daughter of the ex-president- Dr Zanetor Rawlings.

Nii Armah Ashittey also accused the party leadership at the national level of manipulating events to have Dr Zanetor Rawlings win the primaries at all cost.

"The national executives were behind it. As for me i am a principled person. People think that there are people who can push others, I don't need to tell you. The truth is only one and all said and done it will come out one day," he said.

The embattled MP also revealed that he had received death threats but is not deterred the least.

"I have received. People call me, others send me a text message to me and all that. There was a time people were following me. I don't give a damn about that. I won't lie to you. I am too big to lie. If you kill me, Ghana will live. I am not a coward type.

"When you dig a hole and you push weeds on it if you are not careful you are the same person who will fall into it," he stated.
But a Deputy General Secretary Koku Anyidoho would not discuss the merit of the parliamentary primaries except to say the allegations by Ashittey were unfounded.

He said the party went through due process in conducting the primaries and wondered why Ashittey will accuse them.

"We had no hand in any primaries," he said, adding during the vetting of Dr Zanetor Rawlings the case about whether the eventual winner was a registered voter never came up.

"It was not a petition that was brought by anybody; It was not a petition that was brought by the constituency executives; it was not a petition that was brought by any of the contestants and so we through the voting process. As it is, there are legal processes that allow the young lady subsequently to get her name on the register," he stated.

Koku Anyidoho said the accusations being leveled against the national executives by Nii Ashittey were without basis. He would rather the MP waits for the court's verdict.

Nii Ashittey is asking the court to declare as null and void the parliamentary primary that elected Dr Zanetor Rawlings as NDC parliamentary candidate.

He cited amongst other things, that Dr Rawlings is not a registered voter, a breach of the party's own guidelines for the parliamentary primaries.




 

Credit: Myjoyonline.com