The Wontumi Campaign Secretariat has defended the decision by Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, to swear in some newly elected constituency executives, insisting that his actions were fully in line with the party’s election regulations.
In a statement issued on Thursday, July 16, the Secretariat rejected suggestions that Chairman Wontumi had acted in defiance of the party’s national leadership after the NPP annulled Bantama, Afigya Sekyere East, Adansi Asokwa constituency elections despite a successful swearing-in by Wontumi.
It maintained that the swearing-in followed the successful completion of constituency executive elections conducted under the NPP’s approved electoral framework and supervised by the Electoral Commission in collaboration with the party’s Constituency Elections Committee.
According to the statement, the elections were organised through a process involving representatives appointed by both the National and Regional Steering Committees, and therefore could not be described as a unilateral regional exercise.
The Secretariat further explained that when Chairman Wontumi administered the oath of office to the elected executives, there had been no official communication annulling the election results or directing that the swearing-in should not take place.
It argued that the swearing-in was simply the final administrative step following a completed electoral process and was not intended to challenge or undermine the authority of the party’s national leadership.
However, the Secretariat questioned the legal and constitutional basis for the National Steering Committee’s subsequent decision to annul constituency executive elections in parts of the Ashanti Region.
Among the concerns raised were the provisions of the NPP Constitution or the 2026 Election Regulations that empowered the committee to invalidate completed elections, the specific findings made against each affected constituency, and the evidence showing that any of the elections breached party directives or court orders.
The statement also asked whether regional officers, constituency election committees and candidates in the affected areas were given the opportunity to respond before the annulment was announced.
The Secretariat stressed that its concerns were aimed at promoting transparency, accountability and adherence to the party’s constitution rather than creating division.
