Veteran politician Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin says he has “no fears at all” that he will retain his Nadowli-Kaleo seat in the Upper West region despite a challenge from the People’s National Convention (PNC) National chairman, Bernard Mornah.
Filing his parliamentary nomination forms for a record seventh successive bid, a confident Majority Leader and candidate of the governing NDC dismissed any possibility of an upset in the general elections come December 7.
The National Democratic congress won all parliamentary seats in the Upper West region during the 2012 general election except the Jirapa seat which was ceded to an independent candidate.
The lawyer said his challengers which also includes NPP candidate Elvis Banoemuleng Botah are his “sons who are coming from the wrong direction” because they are not NDC members.
But even if they had contested in the NDC parliamentary primaries, they would not stand a chance because there are more competent ‘young men’ in the NDC, he said.
“These are young men who are quite ambitious who believe they could take over. Little did they know that among my people here, there are more competent people in the NDC than them,” Bagbin who is one of three longest-serving MPs said.
He indicated that there is a stock of capable NDC members who could take over from him if he decides to hang his parliamentary boots.
Alban Bagbin has been in parliament since beginning of the Fourth Republic. He won his first bid in the 1992 general elections boycotted by the opposition NPP.
Since then, attempts to dislodge the highly experienced 59-year old politician have proved unsuccessful. He held on to the Nadowli North seat until the Nadowli-Kaleo constituency was carved out in the 2004 general elections. He has since been Nadowli Kaleo MP.
The Majority leader has stressed that “parliament is not for children”.
He has received the backing of the Minority leader Osei-Kyei Mensah Bonsu who is a big believer in prohibiting the seat of a caucus leader from internal party primaries.
While Alban Bagbin faced a challenge in his party primaries in November last year, Osei-Kyei Mensah Bonsu said he will “fast and pray” for his colleague.
He is reported to have said that Parliament would lose out tremendously in a very profound manner if Alban Bagbin lost his seat.
The Majority leader has revealed that had it not been for politics he would have been a soldier. “It is one of the regrets I have in life for not being part of the military,” Alban Bagbin has said.
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