Vincent Sowah Odotei, former Member of Parliament (MP) for the La-Dadekotopon Constituency, has denied claims by some delegates of the New Patriotic Party that he was responsible for the defeat of the party in the 2020 parliamentary election.
The delegates in the constituency on Friday, January 29, 2021, held a news conference to disclose a petition they intend to submit to the Regional Chairman of the party about alleged misconduct on the part of the former MP.
The allegations included paying people money to vote for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, going on a spree together with family and workers when results were declared that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had lost the seat, and describing projects he spearheaded as his personal enterprise.
They also claimed that he commissioned his followers to collate innocent people’s data with the impression of making them delegates in the next compilation of constituency album though the General Secretary of the NPP had not given any directive to that effect.
The delegates also said Mr Sowah refused to publicly dissociate himself from the then NDC’s parliamentary candidate’s call on him to join his campaign since his candidature was rejected by the delegates during primaries.
“Our independent investigations have proved that the former MP clandestinely sponsored and also covertly campaigned for the NDC candidate on grounds that they are from the same clan,” their petition read.
Mr Odotei, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, however, said the petition was only copied from a petition submitted to the Regional Chairman of the party by the Municipal Chief Executive of La Dadekotopon Municipal Assembly, Reverend Solomon Kotey Nikoi, the Acting Constituency Chairman, Kingsley Addison and the then parliamentary candidate, Gerald Tetteh Nyanyofi, dated 19th November 2020.
He said he responded to the petition and will, thus, not respond to the allegations from the delegates.
In a statement copied to the media, Mr Odotei said: “I wish to state that as a gesture of respect for the party structures and in order not to do anything which will bring the name of the party into disrepute, I will not respond directly to the allegations contained in their press release since I have, as indicated above, responded via the official party channel and awaiting their final determination.
“I wish to assure you that I have every faith in the party structures to get to the bottom of the cause of our loss of the seat and reiterate my readiness not only to assist but also to submit myself to the fact-finding committee set up by the party to investigate such matters.”