Oboafo Kwadjo Asante
Fresh posters have popped up in the Suhum Municipality having the name and inscription of the New Patriotic Party, NPP, Member of Parliament for Suhum Constituency, Oboafo Kwadjo Asante contesting as Independent Parliamentary Candidate in the upcoming election.
The poster has inscription: “Maintain – Hon Oboafo Kwadjo Asante as MP. The King of Development as Independent Candidate for Suhum Constituency”.
Aside from that there are a series of his posters and flyers trending in the constituency with the inscription “The Development King” with the slogan ” Oboafo Toaso”, as some cars have also been branded with his images.
The incumbent first timer Member of Parliament, who was seeking re-election, lost his second term bid to the Political Adviser to the Chief of Staff, Frank Asiedu Bekoe, popularly called Protozoa who had 496 votes against 320 votes in the January 27, 2024 NPP Parliamentary primary.
After losing the Parliamentary Primary, the MP hasn’t been seen moving with the New Parliamentary Candidate, Frank Asiedu Bekoe to any event but rather solely embarking on a series of community development projects across the constituency.
Three months ago, he cut the sod for the construction of a new Football Pitch for the residents of Akorabo Zone, and secondly, thus on Wednesday, 22nd May 2024 cut the sod for the construction of a bridge for the residents of Ali and a drainage system for Gariba Zongo residents respectively.
At every engagement he will have with the community members, his speakers will be preaching the development projects undertaken since taking over office in the areas of health, education, and roads, among others across the constituency. Some are still ongoing.
The MP hasn’t officially declared, but sources close to him, said they are receiving calls from market women and other stakeholders to contest as an Independent Candidate.
His close allies noted that they are yet to consider what the constituents will say before they decide whether he will contest or not.
The NPP MP, Oboafo Kwadjo Asante in June 2020 won the parliamentary primary after defeating the then MP, Frederick Opare-Ansah, by polling 394 votes out of 666 votes cast against Opare Ansah who garnered 272 votes.
He broke the record to dethrone Fredrick Opare Ansah, who was running his fourth term from seeking his fifth term bid in Parliament.
Oboafo Kwadjo Asante, as a first-timer parliamentary candidate in the history of Suhum, got a total of 34,049 votes representing 63%, against the NDC candidate, Amanda Okyere who received 19,192 votes representing 36% out of the total Votes cast.
President Akufo-Addo also obtained 33,192 votes as against 18,962 by John Mahama.
Interestingly, the then incumbent MP, Frederick Opare Ansah also unseated Ransford Agyapong, a first-time MP who is the cousin to Frank Asiedu Bekoe, the new parliamentary candidate.
In his recent engagements, he explained to the opinion leaders and the community members that he had planted a seed and it had yielded good fruit in the 3 years since the constituents in Suhum voted him to represent them in Parliament.
He further explained that he has an unfinished business with the people of Suhum and has to complete it before he can say goodbye to his constituents, and since he has not done that he can’t leave in the middle of the road, hence he needs their support to continue.
Due to that some of the Constituency Executives have defected to his side on the basis that he is still the Member of Parliament for the constituency hence the decision to follow him on his working visit in the Constituency.
However, the MP in an interview with a section of the media when questioned as to whether he was contesting as an independent candidate or not, but rather said: “I’m still the Member of Parliament for Suhum, and am working for my constituents”.
He added, “Whatever the good people of Suhum want is development and that’s what am doing for them”.
The situation is creating Political tension in the party precisely as the MP, Oboafo Kwadjo Asante and the Party’s Parliamentary candidate, Frank Asiedu Bekoe are running parallel duties in the constituency.
Meanwhile, scores of Party members and sympathizers who are not happy with the situation are calling on the party leadership to quickly intervene and take immediate action on the developing incident before it escalates.
-BY Daniel Bampoe