The Director of Communications at the Presidency, Mr Eugene Arhin, officially declared his intention to contest for the Awutu Senya West Constituency seat on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) with unwavering commitment to the party’s victory.
Confirming his decision to contest the upcoming NPP’s parliamentary primaries, Mr Arhin demonstrated the trait of a good sportsman as he pledged unwavering commitment towards the victory of his party regardless of the outcome of the primaries.
“This is to confirm, officially, that I will be contesting the parliamentary primaries of the New Patriotic Party in the Awutu Senya West constituency in the Central Region. Win or lose, my commitment to ensuring the constituency returns to the fold of the NPP in 2024 is unwavering,” he assured his party members.
Is this a political pep talk intended to woo his party members or Mr Arhin is indeed a selfless, die hard NPP person, who is committed to the party and Awutu Senya West development? This question cannot be fairly addressed without digging into his activities in the constituency.
Good deeds
Mr Arhin did a lot of good things in the Awutu Senya West Constituency long before 2021, but in camera. His reason for not putting camera on his activities at the time was simple. There was a sitting Member of Parliament on the ticket of the NPP so he found it awkward making public, his services to the people, especially his party members.
In 2018, he saved the NPP in Awutu Senya West Constituency from shame by paying the rent fee for the party’s office in Beraku at a time that their land lady had threatened to kick them out of the building. Beyond this, he gave the party a facelift by painting it and furnishing it with state of the art furniture. He did all this without any intention of contesting for the seat in the 2020 elections. Aside from this, he also lobbied for public sector jobs for dozens of qualified party members.
Nonetheless, because he did all these in silence, his presence was not felt in the constituency until 2021 when he went public. Mr Arhin showed his real attitude towards his home constituency when he felt the need to attend to the critical needs of the two traditional councils.
Upon visiting the Awutu and Senya Beraku Traditional Councils, Mr Arhin realised that their offices needed certain items to enable them perform their traditional and administrative duties more efficiently, so he quickly made provision for them.
Thus, he provided both Traditional Councils with 100 plastic chairs each, laptops with printers, air conditioners, flat screen TVs with multi-TV decoders, souvenir from the presidency, amongst other items. This is a true reflection of a person who would not want his colleague “big boys” out there to disrespect his chiefs.
Shame
He couldn’t bear the shame of one day leading his party folks at the national level to his fathers’ offices only to be confronted with the shame of not having enough chairs for their guests. Neither could he bear the shame of subjecting his fathers’ guests to heat in their offices. This informed his decision to provide them with the air conditioners and the plastic chairs. This paints a picture of a true son of the land who identifies himself with the shame and glory of his people.
Upon receiving the items, the Paramount Chief of Awutu Traditional Area, Abokuade Agyemang Wyettey Otabil III, admitted that nobody had ever shown them that level of kindness. He, however, stated that, that was not the first time somebody had donated items to the Council.
Perhaps, moved by the selflessness and prudence of Mr Arhin, the paramount chief admonished him to consider representing his people in Parliament, saying, if he does otherwise he would coerce him when the time is due. He was the first to talk about the committed and selfless nature of Mr Arhin, as he praised him for doing all those things at a time that he did not have the mandate of the people.
The kind gesture he showed the custodians of the constituency was just a permission to do more. The remarks of the traditional authorities, however, made his party members proud. Little did they know that Mr Arhin was yet to make them more proud.
By the time they could say jack, the Director of Communications had built and stocked a Community Library and ICT Centre with books and personal computers at Awutu Beraku, in the constituency. Then followed a 3-unit classroom block at Obodakaba, a village in the constituency, to make basic education accessible to the children in this village, who hitherto travelled very far to attend school.
Others
Among other things, he has completed an abandoned building and furnished it to serve as an office accommodation for the Senya District Police Command. Senya Senior High School (SHS) and Obrachire Senior High Technical School (SHTS) also got mechanised boreholes through the selfless service of Mr Arhin. This is just a few of the projects he has done in the constituency.
If at a time that the NPP had a sitting MP, Mr Arhin served his party in the quiet, without any intention of contesting for the seat, then he is being honest if he says he will remain committed to the victory of the party whether he wins or loses the primaries.
His selflessness and commitment to the party is also evidenced in the great projects he is executing to make the party proud. It is therefore fair to conclude that Mr Arhin’s win or lose comment is not a political pep talk but an honest one.
For the collective good of the party, all the contestants and their followers are therefore entreated to emulate his good example.
