The Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande, has claimed that the candidate presented by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Akwatia by-election was “not fit for purpose,” alleging that the party sidelined other qualified aspirants.
On July 28, the NPP officially endorsed Solomon Kwame Asumadu, Chief Executive Officer of Owuo Mining Company, as its parliamentary candidate for the Akwatia by-election.
However, Mr. Asumadu lost the by-election held on September 2, 2025, polling 15,235 votes. The NDC’s Bernard Bediako Baidoo secured 18,199 votes out of 33,819 valid ballots cast to flip the seat for the ruling government.
Commenting on the outcome, Mr. Gbande argued that the NPP knew from the start that it was heading for defeat.
“As for the NPP from day one, they knew they were going to lose this election. The candidate they imposed was not fit for the purpose.
If they had known, they wouldn’t have tied the other aspirants’ hands behind them. We went there with a calculated, determined strategy to win the election devoid of violence. And that is one aspect the NPP doesn’t know,” he said in an interview with Vivian Kai-Lokko on Channel One Newsroom.
The by-election was necessitated by the passing of Akwatia MP Ernest Kumi.
