Dorcas Affo-Toffey, the Member of Parliament for Jomoro Constituency and mother of socialite Fantana, has been appointed Deputy Ranking Member for the newly formed Parliamentary Committee on Lands and Natural Resources.
She is already serving on the Gender, Children, and Social Welfare Committee and the Lands and Forestry Committee, and she has now been added to the Assurances Committee as well.
This appointment is a testament to her exemplary work and dedication, as recognized by the leadership of the 8th Parliament of the Republic of Ghana.
Her new role acknowledges her tireless efforts and significant contributions to the development of both her constituency and the nation.
In response to her appointment, the MP expressed gratitude to her party, her constituency, and the national executive leadership.
Below is her full statement:
Dear esteemed constituents and honourable members,
First and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His abundant grace and guidance.
It is through His blessings that we continue to achieve milestones and serve our community with dedication and purpose. I am deeply honoured and grateful to announce my appointment as the Deputy Ranking Leader on the newly constituted Parliamentary Committee on Lands and Natural Resources.
This prestigious role is a testament to our collective efforts and dedication to serving our beloved Jomoro constituency and the entire nation.
Having served on the Gender, Children, and Social Welfare Committee and the Lands and Forestry Committee, and now being part of the Assurances Committee, I am committed to continuing our shared mission of fostering growth, development, and sustainable management of our natural resources.
I extend my heartfelt thanks to the leadership of the 8th Parliament of the Republic of Ghana for this recognition.
Your trust and support fuel my resolve to work tirelessly for the betterment of our community and country. Together, let us continue to strive for progress and prosperity. Thank you for your unwavering support and confidence in my capabilities.
Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Western Region, Francis Ndede Siah, has issued a warning that if the government does not address the road infrastructure deficit, particularly in the Jomoro Constituency, he will not be able to lead the party’s presidential campaign in the region.
The regional chairman claims that although road development has generally lagged in the constituency, Jomoro’s unique situation is particularly depressing.
“Even my own constituency Jomoro, if they are not able to come and fix the road, hardly will I be able to go there that I am going to campaign. I have nothing to say and there is nothing to show.
“I cannot go there and stand on a platform and no presidential aspirant can come here for me to lead him to that constituency,” he stated in an interview on Despite Media’s Neat FM (November 23).
Mr. Siah observed that Jomoro, a significant contributor in terms of natural resources, appears to have been overlooked in favor of the others when comparing the constituency to others in the region.
“It is very difficult, just about 18 to 20 kilometres road, the GNPC and Ghana Gas, when you come to the area the oil and gas are all coming from Jomoro but the factory has been built in Ellembelle.
“The supply of the needed raw materials is from Jomoro. Compare Jomoro and Ellembelle in terms of development. Jomoro is not near to Ellemebelle as if we don’t matter. No, you can’t eat your cake and have it,” he warned.
The regional chairman claims that he has tried to get the government to address his concerns, but he has always been met with silence. He said that if the request is not granted, the party could lose the 2024 presidential contest.
“I have sent it to cabinet and cabinet retreat. I don’t know where else I have not pushed this issue. It was the same in the 2020 election, I warned that the issue of galamsey be addressed or we will lose the Western Region to the NDC, and it came to pass.
“We have not learnt our lessons; a lot of things have not been changed. My brother, we all came to meet politics and we will one day leave it behind but I will not put my hard-earned reputation on the line for people to insult me,” he stated.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Jomoro Constituency of the Western Region is urging the government to address the dire state of roads in the area.
The NDC emphasizes that taking action to improve the roads is essential to prevent potential legal actions by the people of Jomoro.
“To avoid other actions supported by law from indigenes of Jomoro”, the government must do them the honours and come to their aid,” it added.
They call on the government to step up and assist the community.
Last week, residents, particularly commercial drivers in Nzemaland, held demonstrations to protest the appalling condition of the roads.
They refused to operate their vehicles, leading to road blockades and even burning of vehicle tires as a response to the government’s failure to address the issue.
In response to the situation, police had to resort to firing gunshots to disperse some of the demonstrators.
During a press conference in the Jomoro Constituency, the Communications Officer, Nyamekeh Lenrie, expressed gratitude to the Member of Parliament for the Constituency, Dorcas Affo-Toffey, for taking some initiative to repair certain roads for the residents.
Read below the full press conference:
A PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSED BY COMRADE NYAMEKEH LENRIE, CONSTITUENCY COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER OF THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS (NDC) – JOMORO 29th July, 2023.
DEPLORABLE STATE OF THE SAMENYE TO HALF ASSINI, NEWTOWN ROADS NETWORK.
Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen and to our friends from the media here present and across the world.
Today, we have gathered here to add our voices to the numerous calls by various individuals and groups in calling on the Nana Addo – Bawumia NPP led Government to fix our deadly road that spans from Samenye barrier to Jaway Wharf and to Newtown. Unlike the NPP in Jomoro who are only bothered with personal interest such as scrapping off a whole Power Barge at Effasu, we in the NDC side with the masses, hence the need to add our voice to the numerous voices calling on the government to fix our roads.
This road has become a thorn in the flesh of both drivers and passengers in the Jomoro constituency.
We have received several promises from this government, some of whom include the vice president of the republic, H. E. Alhaji Bawumia and the MCE, madam Louisa Adde.
Friends from the media, you will recall that, on October, 9th 2020, the vice president during a two-day working visit to the western region, came to Jomoro and in the presence of Awulae Annor Adjei III, cut sod for the construction of the Samenye barrier to Jaway Wharf and to Newtown roads. In that ‘votes winning’ ceremony, the vice president promised that the 108.8km road (Including some town roads such as Bonyere, Tikobo 1, Tikobo 2, Ebonloa etc) will be completed in Two years by My Turn Ltd and Kinspok company Ltd.
Ladies and gentlemen from the media, it will interest you to know that, the time frame given by the vice president for the road to be completed elapsed last year and yet our roads have rather moved from bad to worse. The MCE, Ms Louisa Arde, also on the other hand kept on keeping our faith high in the heavens. Just November last year, the MCE is on record to have stated on NewDay Fm that she has done all that she’s supposed to do and in no time contractors will move to site to begin work.
Friends from the media, it has been realized that, just like the appointor, the appointee also lied to us. If it is tomorrow that the contractor will come on the road, that we do not know. Let me at this point commend the Member of Parliament for Jomoro, Hon. Dorcas Affo Toffey. But for her swift intervention in reshaping roads linking communities such as Tweakor 1, Tweakor 2 and farm roads in the Kabenlasuazo enclave, all in her constituency, residents in those areas wouldn’t also have had it easy. We would also want to commend her for having the Samenye barrier to Jaway Wharf and the town roads at heart for which reason, on the 10th of March 2023, she summoned the Roads minister to the floor of Parliament and asked about when the said road will be completed. It was striking to note from the Minister’s response that the road that was supposed to have been completed on 24th December, 2022 has now become a death trap for residents in Jomoro as at today the 29th of July 2023. Indeed the good people of Jomoro are never taken serious a bit by this inept and deceitful government.
Friends from the media, isn’t it surprising that the minister in his response to the question filed by the Honourable Member of Parliament for Jomoro, said that, the road is seeing a slow pace because of inadequate funding when we know that, the funding agency for this road project is the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC)? GNPC as we all know is funding hundreds of projects nationwide including road networks in the Eastern region, the president’s home region. The good people of Jomoro deserves development. As article 36(6) of the 1992 constitution clearly states, there shall be fairness in the distribution of development and equality in economic opportunity to all without exception. How come a constituency which is at the heart of Ghana’s oil and gas sector is denied of its fair share of development. This is mere wickedness and intentional deprivation. We need our share from the oil and gas proceeds.
So we say Fix Our Roads Now! Concerned Drivers Association in the constituency also couldn’t hold their nerves any longer as they are the immediate affected people of the bad nature of roads. Apart from the rising prices of spare parts and the increasing fuel prices at the pumps (despite the gold for oil policy), they have to also spend hours on a road that they could have spent minutes on. So they had to embark on a three day sit down strike without moving their vehicles. This brought untold inconveniences to passengers.
Pregnant women have to endure the pain of labour as well as the pain of making a deadly voyage to hospital for antenatal. Fix Our Roads Now
Surprisingly, H. E. Bawumia this week came to Jomoro on Tuesday, 25th July, 2023 to campaign to be elected as the NPP flag bearer. And in running away from his own shadow, knowing very well he has lied to the good people of Jomoro, decided to use the Alabokazo Benyinli road that was constructed by the erstwhile Mahama government just to swerve the deplorable road from Samenye. We ask a simple question: What was the size of the elephant on the Samenye barrier route that blocked the fleet of cars of Dr. Bawumia from using that stretch of road?
We do not want to believe that, just like the one district, one factory and the $1million a year per constituency, the year of road has also been a sham. Jomoro is a constituency that can boast of four approved boarder towns, generating huge sums of money for this government, yet, with the year of roads launched by this bungling government; *Drivers are suffering *Passengers are suffering *Market women are suffering *Students are suffering *Mates are suffering *Pragya drivers are suffering *Farmers are suffering *Okada drivers are suffering *Everybody is suffering on this road because of its state.
In conclusion, Ghanaians and for that matter, Jomoronians voted for NPP to solve our problems and not to become problems for us. We are therefore calling on the government to fix our roads now (at least bring it to its former state as they met it) to avoid other actions supported by law from indigenes of Jomoro.
Displaced residents in six Jomoro communities have receive aid and financial assistance from MP for the area, Dorcas Affo-Toffey.
The communities are Nzulezu, Elubo, Ghana Nungua, Cocoa Town, Nsuano, and Zongo Community in Elubo. Also affected were basic schools, especially the Nzulezu Primary School.
The school was destroyed by the floods, affecting pupils, since teaching and learning were halted.
Some residents in Nzulezu have been evacuated on boats to Beyin, a nearby community in the area, to seek shelter.
The community, which is entirely made up of stilts and houses over 500 inhabitants, almost submerged after it rained continuously for seven days.
Properties worth thousands of Ghana cedis were destroyed in these communities.
The MP was at these six communities to assess the extent of damage to the residents and property and sympathize with the victims.
Madam Affo-Toffey, apart from the relief items to all these communities, also donated an amount of money to them.
Residents in Nzulezu received an amount of GH¢10,000 to be used to resolve the unsanitary situation due to the floods.
Madam Affo-Toffey, in an interview with the media, said “It’s all about education, zoning and planning because elsewhere, before someone would build, you have to go to the Town and Country Planning Department to seek approval and permit”.
“They will ensure the buildings are built in a place that would not disrupt running water. What we can say for now is for them to stop indiscriminate dumping of refuse. We have a long way to go but I am sure with time, things will change,” the MP.
Madam Affo-Toffey added that “provisions are being made to support those who do not have places to sleep. These places are flood zones areas so there is nothing that could be done.”
The Abusuapayin of Nzulezu, Abizi Kojo, also revealed that the walk-ways and toilet facilities which are used by tourists have also been destroyed.
He, therefore, called on the Tourism Ministry and the Ghana Tourist Board to urgently help in fixing their slipways and the tourist toilet facility since despite the flooding, the community is still receiving tourists.
Pregnant women and the sick usually struggle plying the road to seek medical care.
It has been like this for decades but constant calls on successive MPs and governments to reshape the road have proved futile.
“This was the nature of the road and even these tricycles and bicycles cannot commute on the road due to the deplorable nature” a resident lamented.
Some of the inhabitants were stunned by the reshaping exercise by the MP since the roads have been there for decades.
They explained that in just her first term in office, the MP has been able to make their roads motorable and therefore called on the constituents to vote for her.
Member of parliament for the Jomoro Constituency in the Western Region, Dorcas Affo-Toffey, has detailed how the two years of court proceedings regarding her nationality have had an impact on the residents and development of her district.
The MP said some investors she contacted refused to come and invest in Jomoro because she was in court in the first two years of her tenure.
Madam Affo-Toffey gave these explanations in an interview on Onua FM’s drive time show Efie Ne Fie with Dr. Prekese on Thursday, March 30, 2023.
The Sekondi High Court in November 2022 dismissed a petition that sought to challenge the eligibility of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP).
That meant Dorcas Affo-Toffey could continue to be an MP and continue to represent the people of Jomoro in Parliament.
The court said per her application and subsequent issuance of a Ghanaian passport, she automatically lost the Ivorian nationality.
The court held that per Ivorian laws, immediately the MP acquired a Ghanaian passport, she automatically ceased to be an Ivorian and therefore there was no need for her to have formally renounced her Ivorian citizenship as argued by the petitioners.
Reacting to the issue, Madam Affo-Toffey explained that Jomoro can boast of several natural resources that when utilized, can create several employment opportunities not only for the people in Jomoro Constituency, but also the entire country, yet poverty is rampant.
“My constituency has two different areas. The coastal area and farming area and we are blessed as constituency. We have oil, cocoa, coconut, rubber, cassava and others but we have bad roads in some areas, bad telecommunication networks which I have been able to solve – unemployment and electricity challenges in some small towns,” she explained.
The MP added that “on schools, we have just two SHSs, one was built by Nkrumah and the one was done during NDC era. Some communities were cut off from the rest…but we get cocoa from there. They carry sick people on a stretch”.
She explained that due to the nature of poverty in the area, she started contacting some investors in the US for them to come and create jobs in Jomoro but these investors did not come because of the court case.
“I travelled to the US and met two huge companies who were willing to come and invest in Jomoro but they said, we are coming because of you and you are in court so we cannot come. So the court petition did not help me at all. It did not help me and my people. They would have done a factory for both coconut and cassava processing. The frustrations were too much but I am not perturbed and discouraged”.
Madam Affo-Toffey said “you are in Parliament but you do not know what will happen next. The court for two years did not help the development of me and my people”.
Commenting on her achievements despite the court petition which delayed development, the MP said “every witch is afraid of me because my people pray for me always because of what I have been able to do for them in these few years despite the court petition”.
“I have given over 350 SHSs students educational material such as mattresses.I have given over 200 tertiary students scholarship to study, I have built CHPS compound for some communities, I supplied pharmaceuticals to clinics, hospital and CHPS compounds, I have done over 600 desks to school….My target is to do over 2,000. I have the carpenters who manufacture them in the constituency. On water project, there were schools that pupils walk kilometres to drink water and return to school. I have provided them with potable water. My target is to do something for every community. I have decided to do the rest by the end of the year”.
Madam Affo-Toffey added that “I am building a 6-unit classroom block for one of the communities. I have done a bridge …three of those bridges…but the one in a place called Mitica is the best because since the inception of the town, no one has been able to go there with a car but I have done it. I don’t think even if my common fund for four terms cannot pay that for the Mitica Bridge but I have done them all”.
A leading member of the New Patriotic Party, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has described as refreshing a decision by a High Court to dismiss a suit challenging the election of Jomoro Member of Parliament, Dorcas Affo-Toffey.
According to him, the decision by the court among other things is a clear indication of the fairness of the judiciary system of Ghana.
“Congrats! It is refreshing to be amply reminded that the legal system works! That, Lady Justice remains blind,” Mr Otchere-Darko wrote in a tweet in reaction to NDC member, Joyce Bawa Mogtari’s celebration of the court’s decision.
The opposition National Democratic Congress has over the period accused the bench of being bias against the party.
Some NDC members have cited the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the party’s petition against the 2020 presidential election result to back their claim.
However, the Sekondi High Court on Monday, November 21, 2022, dismissed a petition against the NDC Member of Parliament for Jomoro.
The case which had been ongoing for close to two years was decided when the court, presided over by Justice Dr. Richmond Osei Hwere dismissed the case on grounds that the MP was eligible to contest.
The court held that she lost her Ivorian citizenship at the very time she acquired her Ghanaian citizenship, thus, there was no merit in the petition seeking to annul her election on the basis of her having dual citizenship.
The petition was filed by one Joshua Emuah Kofie, who was challenging the eligibility of the MP to contest as a representative of the people in the constituency on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
He submitted that she had multiple nationalities, including American and Ivorian citizenships, which is against the 1992 Constitution.
While the court determined that she did not have Ivorian citizenship at the time of filing and contesting in 2020, the MP denied having American citizenship.
Fantana’s mother, Dorcas Affo-Toffey, who doubles as the MP for Jomoro Constituency has won the election petition case against her eligibility as an elected MP over her alleged Ivorian citizenship.
At a court hearing on November 21, 2022, the MP was pronounced eligible and this was on the basis that she lost her Ivorian citizenship at the very time she acquired her Ghanaian citizenship.
Justice Dr. Richmond Osei Hwere who presided over the case at the Sekondi High Court dismissed the petition.
Background
It can be recalled that sometime in 2021, one Joshua Emuah Kofie challenged the eligibility of Dorcas Affo-Toffey who contested as an NDC MP for the Jomoro constituency.
According to the applicant, the MP holds multiple nationalities including American and Ivorian citizenships, an act, which breaches the 1992 Constitution.
An election petition case against the Member of Parliament for the Jomoro constituency, Dorcas Affo-Toffey, has been struck out by the Sekondi High Court.
This comes after a citizen, Joshua Emuah Kofie, went to court to challenge the eligibility of the MP to contest as a representative of the people in the constituency on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on grounds that she had multiple nationalities, including American and Ivorian citizenships, which is against the 1992 Constitution.
The Sekondi High Court presided over by Justice Dr. Richmond Osei Hwere dismissed the case on grounds that the MP was eligible to contest as she lost her Ivorian citizenship at the very time, she acquired her Ghanaian citizenship.
In regards to her American citizenship, the MP denied having American citizenship.
The case has been in court for over 20 months since she was elected to represent the people of Jomoro constituency.
