The failure by incumbent Member of Parliament for Subin, Hon. Isaac Osei to make do his promise to step down after his tenure, has set the constituency on a tight race ahead of the party’s parliamentary primaries.
Though the incumbent MP on June 13 last year invited Eugene Boakye Antwi, a member of the Council of Elders to his Labone residence in Accra, where he gave his blessings to support him at the end of the current House of Parliament in 2016, Hon. Isaac has since made a u-turn and is set to contest again.
But his rather outrageous decision may come as too little too late, as some notable aspirants have already warmed themselves into the heart of the delegates.
Mr. Eugene Boakye Antwi on Thursday launched his ambition to contest the seat at a colourful and well attended occasion held at the Georgia Hotel in Kumasi.
Delegates trooped to the large Conference Hall to participate in the occasion which also saw some prominent personalities of the party in attendance.
Mr. Boakye Antwi, who is largely tipped to emerge victorious, has been a member of the National Council, serving alongside high profile party personalities in the highest decision making body of the party outside of National Congress.
He contested the seat in 2008 alongside the likes of Mr. George Ayisi Boateng and lost narrowly to the incumbent, Hon. Isaac Osei, by a margin of 18 votes.
In 2012, the candidate said he declined to contest again and gave the incumbent MP another chance to go unopposed in order to preserve the peace and unity within the party.
Recounting with a heavy heart, Mr. Boakye Antwi said in June 13, the incumbent MP conveyed a meeting with me alongside some party executives to officially inform me about his intentions not to seek a third term in Parliament and thus “gave me his blessings to start preparations towards taking over from him only for him to backtrack on his promise”
However, the former UK/Ireland branch chairman of the NPP says he is not perturbed by the decision of the incumbent MP as he believes he has done enough work and was optimistic of emerging victorious.
“I have represented Ashanti Region with the excellent personalities of former Chief of Staff, Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, former COCOBOD CEO, Mr. Kwame Sarpong, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, amongst others. I was humbled to observe former President Kufuor at work for the business of NPP at the National Council,” he stated.
According to him, his hard work and dedication to the party, including providing welfare services to party supporters have endeared him to the delegates and hopes to count on their support to win the primaries.
“As you all know, I am no stranger to all of you. I have deep roots in Subin dating back to my father, mother and grandparents. I have worked assiduously and achieved so many feats inside this party. I therefore believe the time has come for me to present myself to serve this constituency as a unifier and mend all rifts between the various party factions within the constituency,” he pledged.
Mr. Boakye Antwi said he would continue to push the agenda, together with the National Council, for the much needed reforms in Ghana’s electoral processes in order to ensure transparency and fairness in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.
According to him, the party has learnt lots of lessons from the 2012 elections which clearly came to bear that elections can only be won on the battlefield, adding that the party must therefore expend its time, energy and resources to police the ballots at the polling stations.
He noted that with the wind of change blowing through Africa, citing the recent election of opposition leader in Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari as the President, Mr. Boakye Antwi, said it was the turn of the NPP to also achieve a similar feat by working hard to unseat the NDC, whose reign has been nothing but pain and disappointment to Ghanaians.
