Mercy Adu-Gyamfi
Member of Parliament for Akwatia in the Eastern Region, Mercy Adu-Gyamfi, popularly called Ama Sey, has rejected the results of the ruling NPP parliamentary primaries in the constituency.
According to Ama Sey who unseated NDC’s Baba Jamal in the December 2016 parliamentary elections, there were electoral malpractices during the voting process, hence calling for a recount.
The incumbent who was seeking a second term had 223 votes, losing with four votes to Ernest Kumi who garnered 227 votes.
Other contenders for the Saturday June 20 primaries in the constituency included: Lawyer Bernard Owiredu, and Robert Ampratwum who polled 77 and 13 votes respectively.
Mercy Adu-Gyamfi told DGN Online that she has rejected the final results because there were four dead person names in the register who were declared to have voted.
She explained that during the Saturday’s polls, a lot of malpractices took place at some of the polling stations which brought confusion at the constituency office where the final results were announced but everything was brought under control at last.
She noted that her outfit was consulting her lawyers who would likely take the matter to court if nothing is done about it.
Akwatia constituency has always been in the news for the wrong reasons over Electoral issues.
It was recently identified as one of the flashpoints in the region.
The Akwatia parliamentary seat is one of the swing seat in the region.
The National Democratic Congress has won the seat on two occasions — 1992 and 1996 — before Kingston Akomeng Kissi, current Eastern Regional Chairman of the NPP, snatched it in 2000 for the NPP.
The NPP maintained the seat from 2000 to 2008 until it lost it to the NDC in 2012. The late Dr Kofi Asare, the NPP’s former MP who succeeded Mr Kissi after the latter had voluntarily opted out of Parliament, lost the seat to Baba Jamal in 2012.
Dr Asare won the seat narrowly in 2008 in an election that was marred by allegation of ballot box snatching in some six polling stations, leading to a re-run of six polling stations following a Supreme Court ruling.
Before the general election, the NPP was to present a candidate who could defeat lawyer Baba Jamal, then Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations.
Ms Adu Gyamfi, who had then been appointed as the party’s Constituency Women’s Organiser following the promotion of Kate Gyamfua, then Constituency Women’s Organiser, to a Deputy National Women’s Organiser, put herself up for the contest against Dr Asare, and Philip Kofi Ankomah, an electrical engineer, who had unsuccessfully contested in the party’s primaries on four occasions.
Ama Sey won with 311 votes in 2015, beating Mr Ankomah who had 183 votes and Dr Asare who got 35 votes.
She surprisingly beat Baba Jamal of the NDC in the 2016 election.
She polled 21,433 votes, representing 57.21 per cent of the valid votes.
A hairdresser, Ama Sey’s educational background became a topical issue in the campaign.
A smear campaign was waged against her, with verbal attacks by her opponents.
She attended Presby Middle School at Akwatia, where she obtained Middle School Leaving Certificate (MSLC).
She has always been a businesswoman. Before entering Parliament, she was the Managing Director of Amasey Pharmacy, Kade.
BY Daniel Bampoe