The people of the Sekyere Kumawu Constituency in the Ashanti Region have voted massively for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to retain the parliamentary seat left vacant due to the demise of the sitting MP, the late Philip Basoah.
It was one of the most expensive and fiercely contested by-elections in Ghana, attracting political heavyweights including President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo and his Vice Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, a potential 2024 presidential candidate, as well as ex-President John Dramani Mahama, who is now the official 2024 presidential candidate for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Four indigenous candidates; Ernest Yaw Anim (NPP), NDC’s Thomas Amankwaa, Duah Kwaku (Independent), and another Independent candidate, Kwaku Duah, engaged in an intense political brawl to appeal to the Kumawu constituents for their support.
The by-elections were preceded by the final funeral rites of the late MP, Hon. Philip Atta Basoah, which took place on the weekend prior to Tuesday, December 25, the day of the elections. It was attended by officials from the top hierarchy of government, political parties, and prominent chiefs including the Paramount Chief of the Kumawu Traditional Area, Barima Safo Tweneboa Kodua, as well as some of the late MP’s fellow lawmakers.
The late Philip Basoah, who passed on on March 27, 2023, after a brief health episode was a two-term MP. He was first elected to parliament in 2016 and re-elected in 2020 to represent the people of Kumawu. he was 53.
The winner of the by-elections, a certified Chartered Accountant, Ernest Yaw Anim, who stood on the ticket of the NPP garnered 70.19 percent (15264) of the valid votes cast to retain the Kumawu parliamentary seat for the ruling party.
Despite the tremendous showing of the NDC national leadership, led by ex-President John Mahama and Chairman Asiedu Nketiah to push their candidate Thomas Amankwaa to the finish line first, he came in a disappointing distant second with 17.29 percent (3723), Duah Kwaku, who came in second in the 2020 parliamentary elections as an independent, was rewarded with a paltry 11.51 percent (2478) whilst a relatively unknown political newcomer, a Tema-based business manager, Kwaku Duah came in fourth with 0.29 percent (62) votes.
Figures released by Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC), through its Returning Officer, Paul Agyemang, put the total rate of turnout at 62.45 or 21,527 votes cast out of 34,790 registered voters in the Kumawu constituency.
