Akwatia by-election: NPP has shot itself in the foot with candidate imposition – Ebo Buckman

Senior Communicator for the Movement for Change, Ebo Buckman, has criticised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for failing to conduct a primaries for the Akwatia by-election but rather endorsing its constituency treasurer, Solomon Asumadu, as its parliamentary candidate ahead of the upcoming by-election.

The NPP Eastern Regional Chairman, Jeff Konadu Addoon, on Monday, July 28, in an address to journalists in parliament, explained the process that led to the selection of Solomon Kwame Asumadu, Chief Executive Officer of Owuo Mining Company as its parliamentary candidate for the upcoming Akwatia by-election.

According to the party, the decision was made after extensive stakeholder consultations, during which a proposal to hold primaries was overwhelmingly rejected in favour of a consensus approach.

But in an interview on 3FM Sunrise, Thursday, July 31, 2025 Buckman argued that the opposition party had undermined its democratic principles by not opening nominations to allow all qualified persons to contest.

“The NPP has shot itself in the foot by imposing a candidate on Akwatia. Why didn’t they allow everyone interested to pick a nomination form and contest? A party that has formed a government is organising a primary to select one person to lead. Yet you, an opposition party, are imposing a candidate. That shows that the NPP doesn’t learn,” Buckman asserted.

He further alleged that the decision had sparked internal discontent within the NPP’s ranks in Akwatia.

“Do they think it’s only the constituency treasurer who is interested in being an MP? I’m told others, including the constituency chairman, were interested. So, from the word ‘go’, you’ve created a problem in the constituency,” he noted.

With tensions rising in the build-up to the by-election, Buckman questioned how the NPP would convince voters in Akwatia to support a candidate that many perceive as undemocratically imposed.

“I wonder what message they would be selling to their constituents of Akwatia with this imposition of a candidate,” he concluded.

The NDC is set to conduct its parliamentary primary to elect its candidate on August 4.

Tuesday, September 2, 2025, has been scheduled by the Electoral Commission to conduct a by-election following the passing of the sitting Member of Parliament, Ernest Kumi.