Disqualified Bekwai MP aspirant goes independent, forfeits future with NPP
A private legal practitioner, Akwasi Amofa-Agyemang, who was disqualified by the New Patriotic Party from standing against the incumbent MP Joseph Osei-Owusu, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, declares his intention to contest the December election as an independent candidate in Bekwai, Ashanti Region
A private legal practitioner, Akwasi Amofa-Agyemang, has publicly declared his intention to contest the December election as an independent parliamentary candidate in Bekwai, Ashanti Region. Amofa-Agyemang was previously disqualified by the New Patriotic Party from standing against the incumbent MP for Bekwai, Joseph Osei-Owusu, who is also the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament.
With this decision, Amofa-Agyemang has forfeited his political future with the NPP, as he is in breach of the rules governing the parliamentary primaries held on 20 June 2020.
“Persistent calls”
Amofa-Agyemang was disqualified from contesting in the NPP primary in June, paving the way for the incumbent, Joseph Osei-Owusu, to stand unopposed.
But he told journalists in Bekwai on Tuesday 7 July that, since his disqualification, he had received several calls from his supporters to contest for the Bekwai seat as an independent candidate.
“After wide consultations and discussions in the constituency, I have decided to respond to persistent calls from the constituents of Bekwai to contest as an independent candidate,” Amofa-Agyemang said.
However, before the primaries, the NPP stipulated that no losing or disqualified candidate would be permitted to run against any candidate who had won the NPP nomination in any constituency.
The party further announced that anyone who decides to run as an independent parliamentary candidate automatically loses his or her right of place in the NPP.
There is a recent precedent of an independent candidate in Bekwai.
In 2008, before the introduction of the present NPP rules, Joseph Osei-Owusu ran as an independent candidate against Kofi Opoku-Adusei, the then incumbent MP. He had lost the nomination in the NPP primaries to Opoku-Adusei by a single vote. Osei-Owusu won the seat and subsequently rejoined the party.
Asaase Radio / Wilberforce Asare
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