Incumbent New
Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Suhum Constituency in the
Eastern Region, Kwadwo Asante popularly known as Boafo, has announced his
decision to contest as an independent candidate in the December 7th, 2024
general election.
Boafo Kwadwo Asante
lost the NPP Parliamentary primary in January 2024 to Frank Asiedu Bekoe
popularly known as Protozoa with a vote difference of 179.
In the parliamentary
primary, Frank Asiedu Bekoe secured 496 votes while Kwadwo Asante had 320 votes
out of the total valid votes cast making Protozoa the new Parliamentary
candidate for the NPP in the Suhum Constituency.
However, supporters of
Kwadwo Asante since January 2024 have been nurturing plans to present him in
the 2024 election as an independent parliamentary candidate, claiming that, he
is the preferred candidate for the masses in the constituency.
Addressing his supporters after a Health
Walk over the weekend at the Suhum Amponsah Market, Kwadwo Asante officially
declared his intention to contest as an independent candidate, taking
inspiration from the call of his constituents and the crowd that showed up at
the health walk.
Sources close to the NPP suggest that
high-ranking NPP officials, including Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Bryan Acheampong,
have attempted to talk to him to rescind his decision and had given them
assurances to stay but the unexpected happened to the NPP in Suhum over the
weekend.
The current MP Kwadwo
Asante defeated the then Member of Parliament Fredrick Opare Ansah in the
party's 2020 Parliamentary primary securing 394 votes while Opare Ansah had 272
votes.
Meanwhile, Kwadwo
Asante says, he will stay in the December 7th general election as an
independent Parliamentary candidate.
He said he’s the
helper the constituency needs, and that his decision to contest is solely
because the masses are calling on him to contest.
There has been tension
within the New Patriotic Party in Suhum Constituency since the 2020 general
election that sent Kwadwo Asante to Parliament.
He officially launched
his campaign featuring his posters and T-shirts with the slogan "Oboafo
Toaso" (Oboafo Continue) among other inscriptions.
He said his
developmental agenda for Suhum cannot be truncated abruptly.
Followers of Frank
Asiedu Bekoe otherwise known as Protozoa and that of Kwadwo Asante have been at
loggerheads at several public events, leading to bloodshed in the past.
The Suhum Constituency generally has a record of political violence starting in the year 2008 when Mr Bryan Acheampong faced off with the then Incumbent MP Mr Frederick Opare Ansah in the famous 51/51 battle.
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