Mr Antwi

The race for the Sunyani East Constituency parliamentary seat has become keener and hotter following the decision by Mr Ransford Antwi, an Independent Candidate to join the race for the December gener­al election.

Mr Antwi, a Sunyani based business­man and philanthropist, has pledged to challenge the longstanding dom­inance of the ruling New Patriotic Par­ty (NPP) candidate in the forthcoming general election.

It has traditionally been a strong­hold of the NPP since 1996, however, Mr Antwi seem undeterred by NPP’s strength, vowing to upset the ap­ple-cart.

His reason for that belief is simple – the NPP and their candidate have failed to meet the developmental needs of the people.

This, he believes is buttressed by the large army of the youth and some influential figures within the con­stituency and abroad throwing their weight behind his candidacy.

Mr Antwi in handshake with former president kuffour

Mr Antwi says his candidacy pro­vides hope and progress for the community.

And it appears his campaign is going on smoothly with a section of the youth, especially the first time voters in the constituency have bought into his ideas.

In separate conversations with a number of them at a campaign activ­ity, they made it clear to The Spec­tator in an interview that they were relishing a change because it appears they have been taken for granted for a long time.

Reputation

Mr Antwi with former president JJ Rawlings

Mr Antwi is a royal from Sunyani with a strong reputation for honesty and integrity. His connection with the youth and readiness to help in various community activities have earned him significant support from the elector­ate.

He remains very confident in win­ning the seat in December following a recent survey from Infoanalytic which identified him as the favoured candi­date among the others.

“My decision to contest for the Sunyani East parliamentary seat is to reverse the downwards spiral of developmental needs in the constit­uency.

My primary focus would be on de­velopment and job creation and equip a significant number of the youth with skills to enhance their employ­ability if am elected” he stated.

“When I declared my intention to contest, some people thought that I was just joking and that I would collect money from other contestants and abandon my dream, but I want to assure you that I am in it for the long haul.

Mr Antwi said he boast of a ‘solid’ team on the ground working hard to maintain the momentum and leave nothing to chance.

He expressed concern that the Sunyani East constituency and the broader Sunyani area have diminished in stature due to the absence of sub­stantial developmental initiatives.

The deteriorating condition of Sunyani’s roads characterised by pot­holes, the neglected regional library and absence of a sports stadium for the constituency would be my prior­ity.

“The youth needs someone to provide them with leadership, offer them employable skills, hence the plan to establish a youth develop­ment centre where majority of them would be trained.

There would also be a dedi­cated office to receive the people and hold regular Town Hall meet­ings to share ideas from the people to help push forward to con­stituency’s devel­opment agenda.

In all of these, financial support remain a biggest challenge faced by his campaign team because ev­erybody wants to wear his T-shirts and other para­phernalia.

“This comes as a huge cost,” he added.

Challenges

Coming into a contest like this also has a few chal­lenges which Mr Antwi is trying very hard to deal with.

“Some of the people think that I am a rich person because I am a business­man. Others also think that once I am contesting for the election, I have a lot of money to spend and they must come for their share.

But that, according to him, was cer­tainly not the case.

“I’m working within my means. I have some little donations I received from some people who believe in this course to pull through.

Business

Mr Antwi is the owner of Sun-city radio, one of the most popular radio stations in the region. He also owns a fleet of businesses.

Business aside, Mr Antwi is passion­ate about doing philanthropic work. Through his Sun-city outreach team, he has been able to liaise with some medical doctors to organised health screening for the aged to deal with health complications such as hernia, glaucoma and general health issues in the constituency and beyond.

As a football enthusiast and highly connected figure in football circles, the Sunyani East constituency par­liamentary aspirant said he used his influence to secure kit sponsorship for the senior national team in the past.

He was part of a team that hired the services of Ratomir Djokovic from Serbia who supervised Ghana’s qualification to its first World Cup in Germany in 2006.

He is a staunch supporter of BA United, Asante Kotoko and Manches­ter United of England.

Education

Mr Antwi completed the St Patrick’s Middle School in 1987 and continued to Twene Amanfo Senior Technical High/Sunyani Senior High for his A Level Certificate and completed in 1993.

He had his National Service with the Bono Regional Hospital before proceeding to the Institute of Man­agement Studies in Kumasi where he obtained a Diploma in Business Management.

He later worked with MTN Ghana before venturing into private busi­ness.

Family

He is the first born of children to the late Stephen Kwame Antwi and Madam Helena Dankwa.

Mr Antwi and his family at Manchester United stadium UK

Mr Antwi is married to Sufura Mo­hammed Suraj with whom they are blessed with four beautiful children – Emily Dankwa Antwi, Denise Antwi, Ransford Kofi Antwi and Zara Afia Kuruwaa Antwi.

His favourite meal is fufu with groundnut soup.

Mr & Mrs Antwi

Advice

He advised the youth to stay fo­cused as they work towards realising their dreams.

According to him, the future of this country rests in the arm of the youth so it was important for any govern­ment to formulate policies that would ensure their development.

Mr Antwi also encouraged the youth to shun acts that would plunge their various communities into chaos, espe­cially with elections approaching.

By Daniel Dzirasah, Sunyani

Don Richie looked older at 45 years and battling alcoholism (left) than at 50 and overcoming it

When Richard Nii Adjei Otch­wemah decided to celebrate his completion of secondary school with alcoholic drinks, little did he know it was going to be the begin­ning of a long battle with alcoholism for almost 30 years of his life.

‘The Don’ or ‘Don Richie,’ as he was called, because he was always the boss and leader of most activities among his friends, recalled that after their final exam, he and some of his friends decided to do something ad­venturous to celebrate completion of that level of education.

“Right at the gate of the school, someone was selling palm wine and so we had a good taste of it,” Mr Otchwemah, who is now an Addiction Coun­sellor disclosed this in an interview with The Spectator on the side­lines of an occasion to celebrate persons who had recovered from substance abuse at the House of St. Francis Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment and Reha­bilitation Centre in Ashaiman.

He said while wait­ing for his results, he was taken out regularly by a friend to have a bottle or two of beer.

“Drinking alcohol was not a hab­it until after Sixth Form when I was posted to a remote village to do my National Service. It was without electricity and water. The food was also bad so the only thing providing us with joy was hard liquor (akpeteshie), which was providing the ‘appetite’ to enjoy the meal” he narrated.

“But at home, I could eat without the alcohol as appetite because the food was good.”

He said after his graduation from University, he got married and was still drinking, recalling how he took his wife to drink.

That continued after marriage as his crave for alcohol became persistent while his wife be­came concerned and started expressing her displeasure about it.

Mr Otchwemah stated that in the process, he lost his influence on his family and community which previous­ly considered him as a role model and very responsible person.

As if that was not enough, alcoholism affected him greatly when pursuing a Master’s pro­gramme. He struggled to study and pro­crastinated on things to do.

Conse­quently, he felt his life was mov­ing back­wards and begin to lose his friends, family and even his job because he sometimes missed some days at work due to drinking.

The Addiction Counsellor said he spent almost all his time at drink­ing bars and preferred to be with like-minded people in order not to be discriminated upon.

In the process, he sometimes found himself on the wrong side of the law due to excessive drinking and also sus­tained various degrees of injuries from falls or fights caused by his drinking habit.

The turning point for him was when some old friends who had shown him so much love and respect over the years spoke to him passionately about the developments in his life and the need for him to get help.

He noted that there was an earlier attempt by some family members to get him to seek help from a rehabil­itation centre but he returned home after a month and started drinking again.

According to him, that attempt did not work because he had gone there out of frustration due to the pressure from his friends and a desire to make them happy.

The 50-year old narrated that the approach by his friends did not sound manipulative and so in August 2019, he decided to seek professional help from the House of St. Francis.

“And to the glory of God, I am back to my old self. The last month of August was exactly five since I tasted alcohol. I communicate well and I am polite with people. I say sorry when I offend them and also communicate well if I have concerns about issues without resorting to alcohol. I have not taken alcohol for five years and the good news is that I am helping others to do same,” he said.

He says it was important for society to treat persons battling addiction of any form with love and respect.

“Such people must be treated with respect. If possible, such people should be referred to persons who they respect and have a lot of regard for, because the process is all about conviction.”

He says after recovery, those who helped them should not use the roles they played as an opportunity to ma­nipulate, blackmail or disrespect them otherwise they might relapse out of frustration.

The Addiction Counsellor appealed to the Ministry for Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to vigorously start a campaign to get students in the Junior and Senior High Schools to be educated on the dangers of alcohol.

He noted that the focus had over the years been on drugs and weed to the neglect of alcohol which is also destructive to its users.

For the youth, the best advice he could offer them was to abstain from alcohol because it has the potential to destroy them.

 From Dzifa Tetteh Tay, Ashaiman