By Gifty A. Boateng
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) 2024 parliamentary candidate for the Ablekuma North constituency, in the Greater Accra Region, has broken ranks with the main opposition party.
According to the candidate, she is unaware that the NPP has formally boycotted the rerun set for tomorrow Friday July 11.
As far as she is concerned, the aspirant insists the party has not issued any formal letter to the effect that it is disinterested in the rerun. “Have you seen a letter”, she asked hostess of the ‘Pulse’ on the JoyNews channel.
Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie, who was once MP of the area, said she is contesting the rerun of 19 polling station, despite earlier decision by the party that it will not be part of the exercise.
This means that she has defied the NPP’s boycott of the exercise.
Earlier, the General Secretary of the NPP, Justin Kodua Frimpong indicated that they are not going to be part and that if the EC goes ahead to print the ballot papers with the name of the candidate, they will sue.
Interestingly, anytime the party held a press conference, the candidate was present to back the presser.
But in a sudden U-turn, the aspirant says she is on the ground campaigning and has her officers at the printing house ensuring printing of ballot papers by the Electoral Commission (EC), indicating she is fully prepared.
She made the declaration on Thursday July 10, expressing confidence that at the end of the exercise, she is going to be declared winner and return to parliament to represent her people and party.
Speaking to journalists in the constituency, Akua Afriyie said she believes that the God who made her the winner of the election in December 2024 with a difference of over 400 votes, “will speak” once again.
Asked why she has defied her party, she retorted “I don’t care”, and that she is “doing her thing” with the party and she is not going to stop.
She said she wants to prove to the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the EC and Ghanaians that, she “serves a living God” and that “God will prevail”.
She alleged that the NDC cheated her in the main election and they are still cheating her in the run up to the upcoming rerun.
“I won, and I know God will reinforce my victory tomorrow”, she said in the studio interview. She insisted that what she is knows is that, she is winning the election and nothing will stop her victory.
Asked if she was not bothered that the NDC is in power and they can use incumbency advantage to overrun her, she said they may be in power and have all the resources but “God is bigger than any government. Are they bigger than God, you will be in power, but God will prove himself.”
She also alleged that she was picking intelligence that her main opponent, the BDC are planning to foment trouble.
The Ablukuma North constituency has been the only outstanding constituency without MP, after that election was embroiled in election dispute.
The EC has been try over the past 7 months to recollate the results as directed by the high court but the electoral management body faced resistance by the political parties sometimes leading to violence.
The EC had ruled out rerunning of the election but barely two weeks ago, it ate a humble cake announcing it was going to rerun 19 polling stations, a decision the NPP rejected while the NDC embraced it. The NPP headed to court but after not getting favourable outcome, the candidate has in the last minutes announced to rerun.