NPP Risks Another Independent Candidate In Fomena -If Asiamah Is Imposed

Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central the Honourable Kennedy Agyapong has warned that the ruling New Patriotic Party risks another independent candidate in Fomena if the current MP, Andrews Amoako Asiamah, is allowed to go unopposed.

In an interview, Mr. Agyapong points out that such an imposition will not only infringe on the party’s constitution but provoke angry NPP members to contest as an independent candidate.

“Fomena MP Asiamah is my very close friend but the party must open the contest for others to run. That’s what cost us a lot in the past we must not repeat it,” he said.

The warning is in response to a vow by NPP members in Fomena to resist the imposition of Andrew Asiamah on the party as an independent candidate in the 2024 elections.

The aggrieved party members premise their resistance on Article 3(9)(1) of the NPP’s constitution which states that, “a Member of the Party, who stands as an independent candidate against the officially elected member of the party, or who joins or declares his or her support for another political party, or for an independent candidate, when the party has sponsored a candidate in a general or by-election, automatically forfeits his or her membership of the party”.

Andrew Asiamah who is also the Second Deputy Speaker in Parliament was first elected as NPP MP for Fomena in 2017. Then ahead of the 2020 elections, his seat was declared vacant after a misunderstanding led to him filing to contest as an independent candidate and winning the seat.

Agyapong thinks the best the party can do is to accept him back into the NPP and then allow him to contest for re-election.

Agyapong reiterated his claim that he was instrumental in getting Asiamah to work with the NPP in parliament and that he had paid Ghc1million to a former NPP Chairman for Fomena to step down for Asiamah.