The results of the parliamentary primary at Ekumfi constituency of the New Patriotic Party in December last year, show that members of the party largely disagree with President Akufo-Addo as to who is the best person to represent them in parliament.
The Akufo-Addo-led government has deprived the people of Ekumfi constituency in the Central Region, their fair share of the national cake, in his second term, because the president said they did not vote for his preferred candidate, Francis K. Ato Cudjoe, in the 2020 elections.
During an interaction with traditional leaders from Ekumfi at the Jubilee House recently, the president openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the voting pattern in the Ekumfi constituency, which he intimated led to Ato Cudjoe’s ousting from Ghana’s 8th Parliament.
President Akufo-Addo could not come to terms with the fact that even after making “him [Ato Cudjoe] a deputy minister,” the constituents still voted him out.
Despite losing the 2016 parliamentary election, the NDC’s Abeiku Crentsil came back in 2020 to defeat Francis Ato Cudjoe.
“Ato Cudjoe was your MP and I made him a Deputy Minister and you voted him out in the last elections and because of that, I did not pay attention to development in your area, I have to be honest with you but since you have brought it up I will pay attention to it,” the president was quoted as saying.
Unfortunately, the president’s preferred candidate would not even be on the ballot of his party, the NPP, in the 2024 parliamentary elections in December.
This is because the governing New Patriotic Party has rejected Mr. Ato Cudjoe and voted massively for another person at the party’s primaries in orphan constituencies: constituencies without NPP sitting Members of Parliament.
After the parliamentary primary exercise for the Ekumfi constituency held at Essarkyir, Mr Styelfa Nana Adu Okumkom Donkoh, the Chairman of the Ekumfi Constituency, New Patriotic Party, polled 264 of 503 votes, to win the sole slot for the December elections.
He beat three other contestants, including now the president’s candidate, in the election.
Francis K. Ato Cudjoe, former Member of Parliament for the constituency had just 108 votes.
Other contestants Albert Tetteh-Entsie polled 58 votes, and Kweku Baah Ofori, 73.
Meanwhile, the statement by President Akufo-Addo with regards to his neglect of Ekumfi Constituency because the NPP MP was voted out has received round condemnation.