Who wins Asante Akyem South NPP primary? … As campaign heats up
The race for the Asante Akyem South parliamentary ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is heating up as the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Kwaku Asante-Boateng, who is seeking re-election and his closest contender, Bice Osei-Kuffour aka Obour intensify their campaign to get the nod of delegates of the party in the constituency.
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Mr Asante-Boateng, a Lawyer and the Deputy Minister of Railway Development is confident of being retained as the NPP parliamentary candidate for the 2024 general election by the delegates of the party.
The governing NPP has slated January 27 to elect parliamentary candidates in constituencies where the party has sitting MPs and Asante Akim South would be one of the areas in the Ashanti Region, the stronghold of the ruling party where the contest would be hot because any of the three aspirants in the race who emerge as the winner is guranteed a seat in Parliament.
The other aspirant in the race for the Asante Akim South NPP parliamentary ticket is Eric Amofa.
However, constituents believed that it would be a two-horse race between the sitting MP and Obour, who are coming face-to-face for the second time. In the 2020 primary, Obour lost by 58 votes and hoped to get the nod this time around from the delegates to represent the constituency in the Ninth Parliament that would be inaugurated in January 2025.
Asante-Boateng
If Mr Asante-Boateng emerges winner of the Asante Akim South NPP primary, he will be serving a fourth term in Parliament.
Mr Asante-Boateng was elected as MP for Asante Akim South Constituency in 2012 and has since retained the seat for the NPP in the 2016, and 2020 elections and gunning for a fourth term in 2024.
Mr Asante-Boateng last Wednesday, January 10, 2024 launched his re-election campaign for the Asante Akyem South parliamentary ticket of the NPP and he is confident of being retained by the delegates of the party.
He stated that he would be declared winner with not less than 75 per cent of the total votes in the NPP parliamentary primaries scheduled for January 27, 2024.
He explained that per statistics and assurance of party delegates of Asante Akim South, he was heading for a resounding victory to continue with his developmental projects in the constituency.
Obour
Obour, the Managing Director of the Ghana Post and a former President of the Musicians Union of Ghana, who is contesting the sitting MP for the second time after the 2020 primary, believed there was a need for a change as the votes of the party in the national election continue to decline and that he is the new face for the constituency.
He said it was time to wrest the seat from the incumbent MP who had held the position for three successive terms but had little to show for those 12 years representing the constituency.
He said his candidacy will focus on creativity and hard work, particularly in creating job opportunities for the youth in the constituency.
Defections
Ahead of the primary, there were reports that some zonal campaign coordinators who were in the camp of Obour have defected to join the campaign team of the incumbent.
Obour has denied the report that some current campaign coordinators of his have defected to the incumbent MPs camp.
He described it as false and an attempt by the Incumbent MP to deceive delegates.