Osei-Owusu formally declares to contest as independent candidate

Bekwai (Ash), Sept 3, GNA - Mr Joe Osei-Owusu, former Chief Executive of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), on Wednesday formally announced that he would contest the Amansie East parliamentary seat as an independent candidate.

He said his decision to contest follows the persistent calls from majority of the electorate, including chiefs in the area, for him to go independent, since they have lost confidence in the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Mr Kofi Poku Adusei.

He said the people say the incumbent MP had failed to support them in developments projects and had even not interacted with the communities, since he was voted into parliament eight years ago. Addressing a meeting of his supporters drawn from the constituency at Asante-Bekwai, Mr Osei-Owusu said he is in the process of filing his papers with the Electoral Commission (EC), when nominations are opened in September.

He said more importantly his decision was to save the constituency from going into the hands of other political parties or an unpopular person.

He called on the supporters not to be daunted by the threats and intimidations by his opponents but remain focused and intensify their campaigns to sensitise the electorate on the need to vote him to parliament.

Mr Osei-Owusu told his cheering supporters to desist from abusive languages or attacking personalities in their campaigns which could throw the constituency into turmoil.

He said his symbol for the election is a "Star", which stands for a new hope for the constituency.

Mr Osei-Owusu, a lawyer and former Amansie East constituency chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), assured that when given the nod in the December elections, the constituency would see a total change in the areas of good roads, education, agriculture and health among others, and urged them to vote wisely.

It would be recalled that Mr Osei-Owusu lost to the incumbent MP in the primary held at Kokofu recently by a single vote, when he polled 69 votes as against his opponent, who had 70 votes

This generated protests from his supporters, who claimed one of the delegates at the primary was not a qualified voter and a petition by Mr Osei-Owusu to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NPP, on the matter was ignored and declared Mr Adusei Poku the winner.