Ameyaw-Cheremeh, Kumi battle for Sunyani East NPP ticket
Ghana's former Ambassador to Libya and Nigeria, George Kumi, and the incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Sunyani East Constituency, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, will battle it in the party’s parliamentary primary slated for Saturday, March 9.
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The primary is to elect a parliamentary candidate to contest on the ticket of the NPP in the 2024 general election.
The two filed to contest in the election after the close of nominations and went through vetting successfuly making it a two-horse race.
Legal issues
The exercise in the constituency was put on hold during the January 27 parliamentary primaries where the NPP had sitting MPs, due to a legal action.
Not only that, but the long-standing legal issue also prevented delegates in the constituency from participating in the election of the party's presidential candidate.
The Daily Graphic gathered that the party had been able to resolve all the legal matters thus paving the way for the conduct of the parliamentary primary.
The Bono Regional Secretary of the NPP, Kofi Ofosu Boateng, told journalists that the party had been able to deal with all issues which prevented the constituency to organise the parliamentary primary along with other constituencies across the country.
"The Sunyani East Constituency stands out as the only constituency in the region, in which we have not conducted the parliamentary primary election.
"As you are aware, we had a few difficulties we had to deal with.
Gladly, we have been able to do away with those issues", he said.
Mr Boateng said so far, the process had been smooth and expressed expectations that the rest of the process would be smooth and peaceful.
He appealed to the two aspirants, particularly their supporters, to conduct themselves well in their campaigns and activities.
Contest
This is not the first time Mr Kumi is contesting the incumbent MP, Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh.
In the 2016 general election, he contested the incumbent MP and lost by a single vote.
Mr Kumi polled 387 votes as against the 388 votes by Ameyaw-Cheremeh.
However, the exercise was marred with accusations and counter-accusations which culminated in the Sunyani High Court ordering a recount.
After the recount, Mr Kumi's 387 votes were reduced by one while Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh's 388 votes were increased by one.
After that defeat, Mr Kumi decided to contest as an independent parliamentary candidate in the area.
During the 2016 general election, Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh garnered 38,009 representing 54.45 per cent of the total votes, while Mr Kumi got 15, 911 representing 22.79 per cent as an independent parliamentary candidate.
In the 2020 election, Mr Kumi attempted to join the NPP parliamentary race but was unsuccessful.
Unfinished business
Speaking to journalists, Mr Ameyaw-Cheremeh said he was seeking re-election to complete his unfinished business in Parliament and the constituency.
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