Former Amb. to contest Sunyani East as independent candidate

Ghana’s former Ambassador to Libya, Mr George Kumi, has announced his decision to contest the Sunyani East parliamentary seat as an independent candidate, come the 2016 general polls.

This, he said, was based on the poor handling of his election petition by the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) over the conduct of the party’s parliamentary primary in the area.

Mr. Kumi who lost the election to the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Mr. Kwaku Ameyaw-Cheremeh, refused to concede defeat, complaining that the poll was rigged by the MP, aided by some constituency officials of the party.

He went ahead to petition the national executive but curiously there had not been any response after more than six months.

Addressing his supporters at a meeting in Sunyani, Mr Kumi who also served as High Commissioner to Nigeria, said he could not wait any longer and had no option but to pursue his dream.

He pointed out that he had not been fairly treated but underlined that he was not out there to create division in the NPP.

The step he had taken was to help bring development to the Sunyani Municipality, which he said, was lagging behind in terms of development.

Mr. Kumi cited bad roads, poor sanitation and dilapidated education infrastructure and said when elected, these would receive priority attention.

He said it was important to find new ways of doing things and avoid the over-dependence on the MPs share of the Common Fund to tackle felt development needs of the people.

While conceding that the primary function of the MP was to help pass good laws, he stated that they also had a responsibility to lobby for the development of their constituencies.

He rallied voters in the area to trust him with their votes.