The fate of the the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to remain the majority group in Ghana’s legislature for the last eight (8) months of the 9th parliament hangs in a balance a the good people of Ejisu in the Ashanti Region decides by 5:00 pm today April 30, 2024.
The Ejisu constituency which is predominantly a stronghold of the NPP and should be a safe seat for the party but today’s by-election assumed an important dimension and its outcome will impart the fortunes of the caucus in the legislature due to the fact that one of their (NPP) own seeks that upset.
A three-term former Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency on the ticket of the NPP and former Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwabena Owusu Aduomi, who quitted the party is going independent against the NPP’s candidate, Kwabena Boateng.
This decision is capable of making Kwabena Owusu Aduomi set a personal record that would render the NPP a minority in Parliament.
Projections from credible polls, including the work of Global InfoAnalytics, have placed the election on a knife’s edge, even with the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) declining to field a candidate.
The precarious nature of the situation is evident is the fact tha both president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and vice president Dr Mahamadu Bawumia made campaign trips to the constituency at the weekend to shore up support for the NPP’s Kwabena Boateng.
These developments fuelled the sense of concern within the party quarters about the threat of losing a seat in the balanced numbers in Parliament.
Today’s by-election follows the death on March 7, this year, of the then MP for the area, John Ampontuah Kumah, who was a serving Deputy Minister of Finance until his demise.
A total of 106,812 registered voters are expected to cast their ballots in 204 polling stations across the constituency.
Three political parties and three independent candidates are vying for the vacant Ejisu seat to represent the people in parliament.
They include the NPP’s candidate, Lawyer Kwabena Boateng, the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) candidate, Beatrice Boakye and Esther Osei of the Convention People’s Party (CPP).
The other two independent candidates are; Gabriel Agyemang Joseph and Attakorah Joseph.
Political watchers and analysts, says the contest would be between the former MP and the NPP candidate, Mr Boateng.
Polls conducted by Global InfoAnalytics ahead of the election suggests the NPP candidate, Mr Boateng, is slightly ahead of Mr Aduomi.
Source: Christian Kpesese