The Member of Parliament for La Dadekotopon Constituency in the Greater Accra Region, Nii Amasah Namoale, has denied a publication of The Heritage newspaper alleging he has banned soldiers from voting the in constituency.

The law maker said he has not dreamt of, let alone voice out such a scheme, and said the publication could only be the thinking of the author.

Below is the MP’s rejoinder.


THE HERITAGE NEWSPAPER PUBLICATION NO. 745 VOL. 6

My Dear Gentlemen and Ladies of the Media,

Last Wednesday, September 3, 2008, the above newspaper published a story purported to have come from me, Hon Namoale of Dadekotopon, with the very bold banner headline: “MP’s Bombshell, BAN SOLDIERS FROM VOTING, They Don’t Know Campaign Issues”.

I write to categorically deny the story and its banner headline; I have never in my life ever made such a statement. I have not even thought of nor dreamt about such statement. I believe such a publication is the thinking of the journalist who interviewed me. I therefore dissociate myself from that negative publication.

I know the Ghana military has many very knowledgeable and professional people and personnel among their rank and file, how then can I downgrade them to that level. I believe such statement is the thinking of the Journalist.

In the interview that I had with the journalist, I complained about the community of Burma Camp being denied of their MP and the MP being denied of his constituents by the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS); I had wanted to meet with the community of Burma Camp and shake hands with them, eat and play football with them, i.e. in short fraternize with them.

I then asked a rhetorical question ‘how could they vote for me without seeing me and knowing my worth as a sitting MP, more so, they do not get any benefit from me in terms of the MP’s Common Fund etc? I went further and said it is better that the community in Burma Camp should be allowed to vote only for the presidential in order not to waste their time on the parliamentary since the CDS is not allowing the Burma Camp Community to benefit form their MP and vice versa. This is what I said, nothing more nor less.

I never made mention of the Electoral Commission, the soldiers all over the country and their dependants etc. I have a lot of respect for the Ghana military so I will never downgrade it anytime in my life.

I beg for this rejoinder to be published with the necessary publicity it deserves for Ghanaians to know what actually happened.


Nii Amasah Namoale, MP, Dadekotopon
Staff (CDS)