The executive committee of the Central Tongu Constituency of the N.D.C wishes to respond to certain unfounded comments and allegations made about the Member of Parliament for the area, Hon. Joe Gidisu by one Afari Jones Junior, a supposed former TEIN president. His main allegation is that, the MP has failed to deliver on his electioneering promises to the people of the constituency. First of all, the executive committee wishes to state that, much as the said Afari Jones Junior is entitled to his personal opinions as a citizen, whether resident in or hails from the constituency, his claims are totally false. The organization that he claimed to be representing, The Rural Youth Platform, is not even known in Devime, where he claimed to hail from which is just only one out of the four hundred communities in the constituency. The most surprising issue is that he is not known anywhere in the constituency as a member of the N.D.C. It is for some of these reasons that his comments should be seriously treated with contempt by well meaning citizens of the constituency. How can somebody who does not reside in the constituency talk about unfulfilled electioneering promises when he was neither part of any campaign trail nor an audience. Our assertion on the writer’s comments is based on the actual roles of a Member of Parliament (legislator) in principle and the perceived roles and duties of a Member of Parliament (development agent) in our part of the world by majority of the citizenry. The executive committee of the Central Tongu Constituency of the N.D.C wishes to use this opportunity to set some records straight as far as these misconceptions are concerned. In the context of actual roles of MPs, how is Afari Jones rating Hon. Joe Gidisu’s performance? Has he tried to find out about the MPs work in Parliament at committee levels? It must also be stated that Parliament is not an advocacy forum where people think that strong jaws are always the best as many would think. The writer is indeed the most ignorant dysfunctional HND graduate in this country who has lost focus and misplaced priorities. We wish to advise him to seek appropriate information from the District Assembly and the office of the MP (not ministerial office) about numerous opportunities that has been created by the N.D.C government for his personal entrepreneurial and societal development instead of the wrong path that he has chosen to baselessly castigate people who will ensure his development. The young man accused the Hon. MP on the following issues: • Not doing anything to ensure good roads in the constituency • Not doing anything to get the youth employed • Being responsible for dying communal spirit in Mafi Devime, among others. For lack of space and time, we wish to catalogue briefly some of the good works of the MP. From evidence on the ground, Hon. Joe Gidisu has achieved a lot for his people in the areas of human development, infrastructure, energy, agriculture, water and sanitation, rural industry promotion particularly for women, among others, through the MPs common fund and other numerous initiatives. These he did as MP in opposition for eight years and one whose party is in power. Anybody who knew the MP, unlike Afari Jones can testify to his level of commitment to people who approached him for any kind of support. Devime is one of the areas that the communal spirit of the people is much alive and through that they have been able to connect the town to the national grid. The schools in the town are not under trees, they are well housed. Plans are afoot to complete the school library project. The town has water flowing through the taps. If the writer had taken the trouble to find out, he would have acknowledged the role the MP played. The writer has forgotten that it is during the tenure of the MP that Devime and its environs were provided with pipe borne water and connected to the national grid. Currently, through the effort of the MP, plan is far advanced to hook those other communities in the Devime electoral area that are not connected to the national grid. In addition, he spoke as if it is the sole prerogative of the MP as the minister of road and highways to decide on which road to award on contract. Roads are awarded for construction on merit, taking into account its socio-economic importance and other factors. The Dove Junction-Mepe road has been reshaped and graveled. There is serious lobbying going on with the relevant authorities to have the Dove Junction –Mepe road tarred. The mandate of the NDC government is four years and it is just two and half years, so, nobody can say a promise meant to be fulfilled within that span has failed, that is if the promise was made. It is worth noting that, it is through the MP’s initiative that the government has awarded for construction the remaining 52 kilometer Sogakope-Ho road and there are currently four contractors working on the road with the hope that they will complete work on it before December, 2012. The MP is putting up a two- storey library and an ICT center for Adidome solely from his share of the DACF. Adidome SHS benefited from a six classroom block and a kitchen and a dining hall have just been awarded for construction. Additionally, a school bus has been provided for Adidome SHS. Similarly, Mafi Kumase SHS has been provided with a two storey boys’ dormitory. All these things were through the initiative of the MP. He has secured funding for the provision of potable water to all the communities in the northern part of the constituency. This project will combine all the small water schemes at Mafi Kumase, Mafi Zongo and Mafi Teleafenu in the areas that draw their water from dams into one holistic scheme. About sponsorship for education, the MP has sponsored fifty-two students worth GH₵ 19,007.13 between 2009 and 2011 to various learning institutions. We do not want to mention those that spanned from 2000 to 2008. The two senior high schools in the constituency, Mafi Kumase and Adidome have benefited from his share of the DACF for brilliant but needy students on several occasions. With regard to employment, the various models of the NYEP have employed 509 people. The assembly has also provided 120 apprentices with working tools through the rural enterprise project. In all these, people from Devime benefited. We want to put on record that the massive development that is going on under Hon. Joe Gidisu has never happened to this constituency before. Anyone who cares should get to the Central Tongu District Assembly for copies of documents for his or her scrutiny. The Hon. MP is very accommodating and so has an open-door policy for divergent but reasonable views and programmes. Finally, Afari Jones Jnr has declared war to force the MP out so that a new dynamic person, in his words to take over. He has shown his gross ignorance about the rules and the procedures involved in electing a candidate to run on the ticket of the NDC. This is not done through the declaration of war or forcing the incumbent MP to resign. There are laid down rules and procedures spelt out clearly by the NDC constitution for anyone seeking to run on the ticket of the party. Hon. Joe Gidisu has never run away from someone contesting him and the constituency executive has never stopped anyone from contesting him. Everybody who wishes to contest is welcome, provided he or she is qualified according to the NDC constitution. We will advise that anyone seeking to run on the ticket of the party follows the laid down procedures and abide by the rules guiding the processes. Central Tongu is a peaceful constituency and we will like it to be so. Nobody should drag the good name of the constituency in the mud just for his or her selfish interest. Long live NDC, long live Ghana. AGBENYO SAMUEL KOFI, SECRETARY 0243404557