Sedem Afenyo is a politician who is vying for the position of a Member of Parliament for Amasaman Constituency in the Ga West Municipality, Greater Accra.
He holds a first degree in psychology and sociology from University of Ghana and second degree in Business Administration from KNUST.
He has been working in the Microfinance industry for the past ten years. Currently, Hon. Sedem Afenyo is the Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the Microcredit Association of Ghana and doubles as a Board Member on the National Board of the Association.
According to Sedem Afenyo, He got into politics as a result of his business because going round and interacting with the people (market women, farmers, small business owners, artisans etc.) on a day-to-day basis; you get to have firsthand information about their hardships, aspirations and so on as they express their disappointments in the leadership of the state.
Honourable Sedem Afenyo has been a member of the NDC, working for the NDC as a branch secretary, ward secretary, constituency executive member before taking the decision to contest for the primaries in August last year and eventually won to contest the parliamentary seat on the ticket of his party.
In an exclusive interview he granted to betterghanadigest.com, Hon. Sedem Afenyo observed that the challenges facing the people of Amasaman and its surrounding communities are many. “You visit communities in greater Accra and you realize that they have no water. People still drink from the local stream where dogs, goats, cattle and all other animals go.
Kids have to travel about 3km to 4km to get basic education. You have communities where there is no electricity; you visit communities where they have to cross streams in order to get to the other community to do some business for money for their livelihood” he said.
It is surprising that in the capital city of our country we still have communities where when you visit you think you are in a village far away somewhere
According to him, much has not been done in the past especially with the provision of basic education, good drinking water, electricity, basic healthcare and other basic amenities one can think of. In as much as he acknowledged the fact that his predecessors have done their best to contribute their quota to the development of the constituency; there is still that need to push for more to be done – considering where we have gotten to as a nation.
What are you bringing on board?
For him, his focus is Community Development. “Every community in Amasaman constituency needs to be developed, with emphasis on basic development needs…Water, Electricity, education and healthcare. He said that all the communities in the constituency are not the same. Some have developed than others.
He said even though Amasaman is the most developed, it still does not have a library. He stressed on the need for leadership to be sensitive to the basic needs of the various communities instead of just embarking on projects that may not necessarily address the basic needs of the majority of the people in the community. “For instance, areas like Osuru Dompe, Okyere Komfo where they don’t even have good drinking water, places of convenience, etc”.
Honourable Sedem Afenyo agreed with the fact that some politicians are used to saying all sorts of things, promising heaven on earth but when they come into power they end up negletting the people and the very promises they made. However, he said being a youth in this generation; things are done in a different way so he does not subscribe to that kind of politics.
For him, he started helping his people long before he got into active politics. “Since, it is impossible to go to individual clients who do business we us to share our profits, it is worth giving back to the community we serve, So I donate back to the community, not because I want to win power”.
He recounted a few of the support he has offered in the past including but not limited to the following;
- Donation of Classroom desks to schools within the Amasaman constituency
- Donation of photocopy machines and printers and A4 Sheets to some schools for the purposes of examination question papers,
- Donation of cement bags for the construction of a bridges
- Distribution of relieve items for the constituents to help mitigate the impact of the CONVID19 Pandemic.
He refrained from giving promises stressing that he was going to develop the constituency together with the people by involving them in the process. “If I fail, they fail” he added.
“I have lived in this community for 31years. My heart is here, my soul is here, my property is here. So its not about winning power and running away. If I develop this community, I benefit myself. If there is a local library here and my kids can go and read, it benefits them as well. We all live. All I can say is that…Together we are going to develop Amasaman”.
New Voters Register
On the issue of the new voters register, he said he did not have much to say since the issue is in court. However, he was prepared to stand by whatever decision the leadership of the party takes after the ruling of the Supreme Court. Stressing that the NDC was prepared to match the NPP boot for boot. “If the NPP takes a step, we will also take a step” he explained.
Touching on recent comments made by Obiri Boahen, he responded by saying that Obiri Boahen spoke as an individual and that the NDC is waiting to see if his party members will follow him. “What he said I think is petty talk. He is tickling himself and is laughing. One thing I will tell him is that, he should think of the silent majority. If he as an individual is saying they are going to beat people; and over how many million people in Ghana are quiet? He should just come and try it and see; and he will get the response in equal measure”
CONVID19
On CONVID 19 and Governments efforts, Honourable Sedem Afenyo said for him, Government’s performance in terms of CONVID19 is below average. He accused Government of not telling Ghanaians and the rest of the world the truth because they want to lift bans for the voter’s registrations to go on.
He also condemned the way and manner the issue was handled right from the onset to now. “Even sharing of relieve items for Ghanaians who are tax payers, you discriminate. You give it to only your party people because you feel your people are going to vote for you”.
Even yesterday, I the parliamentary candidate of Amasaman went out to share relieve items. And I go to every household, I don’t discriminate. If you want to be a father, be a good father. I don’t think if you have kids at home, you feed some and leave some. If we have a problem in this country, and you think as a leader, you take care of some people and leave some people because they don’t share in your ideologies. People even have to bring their party cards before they get food to eat.
Message to his constituents & Ghanaians in general
He said Nana Addo and his MPs won an 2016 elections on the basis of promises namely, 1district 1 factory, 1village 1dam, $1m for each and every constituency and many more. Four years down the line, they have nothing to show. He asked Ghanaians to compare and contrast. They should take account of what H,E, Former President John Mahama and the NDC did in the three years and compare with what the Nana Addo led NPP has done in 4years.
He said there is no development project in Amasaman that the NPP can point to and say that they have initiated, adding that all the projects in the constituency were initiated by the NDC.
He said the excuse that the Member of Parliament is not an NPP MP that is why they have not done anything Amasaman and all other NDC strongholds is baseless. “For God’s sake, it is the DCE/MCE who are supposed to be the main pillar of development in the constituency. The common fund comes to the MCE/DCE and its just a percentage of that common fund that is given to the MP”.
“We are in opposition, as I am speaking to you as a parliamentary candidate, I have done projects within the constituency which are there to prove”.
“I ask all constituents of Amasaman to support the great NDC and John Mahama. He is the best person for this country and I am the best person to lead Amasaman constituency”.
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