Frances Awurabena Assiam, formerly of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and then the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), is gearing up to enter Parliament on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and has therefore gone in for the party’s official membership card. Speaking to Daily Guide yesterday, Frances Assiam confirmed the report and said she would be contesting the NPP parliamentary primary for the 2012 elections but was tight-lipped on which constituency she would be campaigning to represent in Parliament. Reports say she would be eyeing one of the Greater Accra parliamentary seats currently being occupied by the NDC and that she had already started an underground campaign for the seat. The assertive and out-spoken politician said never before in her life has the desire to enter parliament been so strong and that she believes the best way to serve Ghana as a parliamentarian is to do that on the ticket of the NPP. “I am willing to unleash the energy and potential in me to broaden the horizon and realise the hopes and aspiration of Ghanaians especially women and children. My desire to enter parliament is propelled by that burning desire in me; the desire to serve; the desire to make my country a better place and the desire to contribute to the fulfilment of the ideology, philosophy, ideals and manifesto of the NPP,” Frances explained. On why she did not contest the seat when she was in the NDC, Frances said she had no such desire by then though many NDC big-shots gave her an assurance that if she wanted to be MP, she would be made to stand on the party’s ticket without going through parliamentary primaries. “But I have left their party because at a point I was not agreeing with the lack of internal democracy the founder was insisting should be maintained in the party; eventually they violently flogged me out. “I believe in the principles of the rule of law, fair play, competitive democracy and justice for all policies of the NPP so realising the DFP was not a force to reckon with, I went in for the NPP and thankfully I have been welcomed well and I would be staying for good. “The philosophy and programmes of the NPP remain the most formidable proposition on the political market of this country and I am ready to associate with that vision for good and do my all to defend and promote that vision,” Frances Asiam noted. She debunked the assertion that she ‘did not look before she leaped’ in her decision to join the NPP. “I have heard KSM and some small boys on a particular radio station in Accra make some of those silly comments; but the earlier they back off me the better, because I am a law abiding citizen and have the freedom of association and assembly and win or lose I still believe in the NPP; it is still no shaky for me. “You see they are only tempting me to remind them of the skeletons in their cupboard and the type of dirty work they do for the NDC for a fee; I have joined the NPP and if they do not agree, they can break their necks over it,” Frances Asiam stated. Source: Daily Guide