The Member of Parliament for New Juaben South, Michael Okyere Baafi, has disclosed that his current term in parliament will be his last because he will not seek re-election into parliament.
He cited what he called the dangerous monetisation of the entire electoral ecosystem in the country as his primary reason for his decision.
Okyere Baafi stated this on Asaase Radio, where he also apologised to Ghanaians for his pre-Akwatia by-election declaration that he would resign as MP if his party lost the Akwatia by-election on Tuesday. September 2, 2025
Elaborating further, he linked his decision not to seek re-election to what he allegedly witnessed during the by-election, where he claimed money exchanged hands for votes.
According to him, despite his party’s well-calculated campaign, they still lost convincingly to the National Democratic Congress. He claimed the NDC’s candidate did not do enough campaigning, alleging that the NDC had influenced voters with money.
He attributed the NDC’s victory in the election to “vote buying,” alleging that the party paid between GH¢500 and GH¢1000 to each voter in the constituency, which is why its candidate, Bernard Bediako Baidoo, won.
“We did all the work and campaigning, and we were confident of winning the election. But the NDC’s strategy was to buy votes. Almost every voter who wanted money was paid about GH¢500-1,000 by the NDC,” he alleged.
“I was just telling their director of IT, Computer, that we are all young people; if this is how we intend to do politics, then it will be strange in the world,” He stated.
“That is how come some of us, me, I have stated that after this term, I will not seek re-election,” he categorically declared adding that elections in Ghana have become too expensive.
Meanwhile, Okyere Baafi has refused to resign from his position as a member of parliament in fulfilment of a declaration he personally made to Ghanaians ahead of the Akwatia by-election that he would resign if his party lost.
The Akwatia by-election, necessitated by the untimely demise of 40-year-old former MP for the area, Ernest Yaw Kumi, was held across the constituency on Tuesday, September 2, 2025.
The NDC’s Bernard Bediako Baidoo won with 18,199 votes to defeat the NPP’s Solomon Kwame Asumadu, who obtained 15,235 votes.
