‘I’ll side with NPP in next parliament’, declares Fomena MP-elect

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Embattled MP-elect for Fomena Andrew Amoako Asiamah has said he will side with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the eighth parliament after winning the seat as an independent candidate.

“I said that I was winning for the party. I don’t have any place to go”, Mr Asiamah said as he confirms he has been approached by the two main political parties to get him by their side.

“My blood, my DNA, My everything is NPP”, he told newsmen in Parliament on Wednesday, December 16.

The former lawmaker broke away from the NPP to contest as an independent candidate and won overwhelmingly.

With uncertainty over whether the NPP would retain a majority in Parliament, many including political watchers wondered whether he would side with the ruling party.

The NPP emerged with 137 seats while the NDC managed to get 136 seats in a close parliamentary race in the December 7 polls.

There is one seat outstanding in addition to the seat won by Mr Asiamah.

According to the MP, although he won the 2020 polls as an independent candidate, his constituents have urged him to associate with the NPP.

Reiterating comments made before the polls, Mr. Asiamah thus affirmed that his commitment to the NPP was never in doubt.

“I am taking this decision with the prior recognition of my constituents. I am not speaking just for myself. I am speaking for my people. What they told me is what I am speaking out. My people are saying despite whatever happened, I should still be with NPP.”

Mr. Asiamah did not contest the NPP primary ahead of the 2020 polls and the NPP was instead represented by Philip Ofori-Asante.

He defied the party to contest as an independent candidate.

The Speaker of Parliament subsequently removed the MP from Parliament after the NPP demanded the invocation of its constitutional provision that makes a seat vacant after an MP leaves the party that sponsored one’s candidature.

Commenting on this, the Fomena MP said, “frankly I was not happy with the decision of the Speaker. I had not come across any precedence. But it is all good.”

He further said he had “no demands from the government.”

“But I believe that the party will do what is right and needful for despite What I am looking for is to make sure that everything the party does is open and transparent,” he added.

At the end of the December 7 polls, Mr. Asiamah obtained 12,805 of the total votes cast beating his contenders; Philip Ofori Asante and Christiana Appiagyei of the NDC who polled 10,798 and 2,608 votes respectively.

Source: Daily Mail GH with additional files from CNR