Ghanaian actress Yvonne Nelson claims she rejected an offer from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to contest the Ayawaso West Wuogon parliamentary seat against her colleague actor John Dumelo who contested the seat on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 elections.
She detailed this in her new book, “I AM NOT YVONNE NELSON”.
The book that has brought many revelations about Yvonne’s personal life also detailed why the actress turned down an opportunity to venture into politics, just as many of her colleagues have done.
Below are the reasons for rejecting the offer:
- Disassociation from politicians
The talented actress believes her forte is in the entertainment sector and also shuns away from politics because of the tendency to say one thing and act differently for political gains.
“I certainly do not wish to associate with a politician who is projected as one thing but becomes the polar opposite of that when elected into office. Strangely, however, some close associates of the president thought I was a candidate to be drafted into their party and pushed to contest a parliamentary seat with their tacit endorsement and support,” she states.
- Independence
The ‘Princess Tyra’ actress added that she declined the offer because she did not want to lose her independence after a family member of President Nana Akufo-Addo approached her.
“I asked him to give me a couple of days to think about it, but I had made up my mind the moment he broached the subject. I was not interested in the offer. Even if I was interested in going to parliament, who told him I wanted to do that on the ticket of the NPP? What if I wanted to go as an independent candidate? And was I going to allow myself to be someone’s political puppet? Once you accept to be sponsored by them, you lose your independence, and they expect unalloyed loyalty from you. This was something I wouldn’t do even if I was interested. This person was the president’s family member. And from the modus operandi of the Akufo-Addo’ family and friends’ government, I wasn’t going to be their conduit, even if I was interested in going to parliament,” Yvonne revealed in the book.
- She didn’t want to contest against John Dumelo
Yvonne Nelson further explained that apart from the fact that the NPP probably saw a formidable political personality in her as a result of the #DumsorMustStop protest, they also wanted her to compete with actor John Dumelo who was on the side of the NDC.
For her, she had a strong bond with Dumelo and didn’t want to embark on any move that would place the two of them at opposing ends.
“My colleague actor and friend, John Dumelo, was contesting that constituency on the ticket of the opposition NDC and they feared he could unseat the NPP candidate with his celebrity status. Already, John Dumelo’s political affiliation had strained our friendship. We had had open exchanges on Twitter in the past, and I wasn’t going to make things worse by openly contesting him. I wouldn’t betray our friendship to satisfy some people’s political calculations. If I accepted the offer, I was going to do that because of the convenience of political power,” she explains.
She intimates that even though she has no regret rejecting the offer, her chances of winning were high because the constituency was a stronghold of the NPP; she thought she “wouldn’t be different from the politicians and their politics of convenience” if she accepted the offer.
