Fomena MP: The head cornerstone of the 8th Parliament

The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Fomena constituency in the Ashanti Region, Andrew Amoako Asiamah, is the proverbial rejected stone that becomes the head cornerstone of the 8th Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana.

The 54-year-old legal practitioner was spurned by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as a result of his announcement to contest the 2020 parliamentary election as an independent candidate.

He had before this announcement pulled out of the party’s primary election after suspecting prejudice from the party echelons during the build-up to the primaries.

He later contested as an independent candidate in the Fomena constituency against the NPP and NDC candidates in the general elections on December 7, 2020, to triumph to become the MP with the trump card to decide which party becomes the majority in Ghana’s 8th parliament in the 4th Republic.

This is as a result of the MP’s declaration to align with the NPP in the House for purposes of business transactions despite that the party denounced him as their member and asked the speaker of the 7th parliament to declare his seat vacant.

An edict that the speaker of the house obliged and revoked his membership and thus declared his seat vacant on October 13, 2020, under the provisions of Article 97(1) (g) of the 1992 constitution.

The Fomena lawmaker has unequivocally pointed out after his victory that his constituents have implored him to continue to do business with the NPP regardless of what happened and he has no choice but to pay heed to their request since it is their mandate that he represented in parliament. Nonetheless, the astute lawmaker has made some lofty demands to the NPP to dismiss the entire executives of the party’s branch in the Fomena constituency for alleged corruption and gross incompetence, if the NPP wishes to do business with him in the 8th parliament.

Meanwhile, the party through its General Secretary, John Boadu had suggested that Mr. Asiamah could reapply for his membership, subject to specific party regulations and conditions.

In a parliament characterized by tempestuous vindictiveness and a deep chasm between the NPP and the NDC members resulting in rabble-rousing and an open brawl on the floor of the House, the Fomena stalwart is the only point of consensus between the two feuding sides.

This is as a result of the NDC side proposing him for the position of the Second Deputy Speaker of the 8th parliament without any contention from the NPP side of the aisle. Thus becoming the only cinder brick to put the legislative architecture in the right order and footing on the cusp of the 8th parliament.

Mr. Asiamah has proven to be a formidable politician, even though it was not bare-faced for everyone to see, until his abysmal repudiation by his former party, when everyone thought that was the end for him. Just when the New Patriotic Party(NPP) thought he was easily disposable, then he showed them his worth and mettle by fighting what he considered an uppish injustice on the part of the elephantine party. This was unacceptable for a man popularly acclaimed as the man of his people and blameless in his dealings with his beloved political party to be treated and spurned like a waif.

This steadfastness to one’s principle on the part of the honorable MP portends well for him in his investiture as the 2DS of the 8th parliament of the 4th Republic. And also a good omen for his former party to have a second chance at rekindling any fractured relationship with a man who was underrated as a political underdog, only to be verified as a political “big fish” under the current dispensation. Mr. Amoako has proven to be a novel political case for students of politics and the future generation to learn moral and political lessons from this independent phenomenon.

This is a pure political scenario that reverberates the ancient wisdom which posits that:” the rejected stone shall be the head cornerstone”. A moral lesson on how to treat people fairly and to render people the benefit of the doubt without prejudice and bigotry of any kind, save merit and competence.

In view of the revelation that the astute legislator has written to the Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Bagbin on Wednesday, January 13, confirming his status to do business with the New Patriotic Party(NPP) in parliament, we hope to see Hon. Andrew Amoako Asiamah, the political genius that he is, as the missing cinder brick to complement the beautiful architecture of parliament, as can be demonstrated by this auspicious 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic. But for him, the Speaker would not have conferred on the NPP side of the House the “majority group”.