The New Patriotic Party (NPP) went to the polls on Saturday, January 27, 2024, to choose parliamentary candidates in 104 constituencies in preparation for the 2024 general elections.
On December 2, 2023, the party voted for some parliamentary candidates in their orphaned constituencies.
A review of the parliamentary candidates of the NPP by The Ghana Report showed that some of them are government appointees.
From presidential staffers to heads of government agencies and public offices, these government appointees have taken the bold step to join the legislature.
Going into the primaries, the number of government appointees was about 18, but some fell on the battlefield.
Some of the appointees who lost are the Controller and Accountant General, Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem; the Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), Kofi Ofosu Nkansah; PRO of the Education Ministry, Kwasi Kwarteng Frimpong.
Others are a Technical Economic Advisor to the Vice President, Samuel Kwadwo Frimpong; the National Coordinator of the National Alternative Employment and Livelihood Programme (NAELP), Dr Louise Carol Serwaa Donkor; and the government spokesperson on security and governance, Palgrave Boakye Danquah.
Below are the government appointees who want to be members of the next parliament.
- Sammi Awuku
Sammi Awuku is the Director General of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) and the National Youth Employment Agency (YEA) Board Chairman.
He is currently vying for the parliamentary seat of the Akropong Constituency in the Eastern Region on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) after the party unanimously endorsed him.
The former party organiser was the sole candidate to file forms during the party’s nomination process in the constituency.
- Gideon Boako
Dr Gideon Boako is an economist, a lecturer and the current economic advisor and spokesperson for the Vice President of Ghana.
He is currently chasing the Tano North Constituency parliamentary seat in the Ashanti Region.
Dr Boako polled 444 votes, while the incumbent MP, Freda Prempeh, polled 221 in the primaries held on Saturday, January 27, 2024.
In December 2024, he will battle it out with Pius Opoku of the National Democratic Congress(NDC).
- Eugene Arhin
Eugene Kofi Bentum Arhin is the Director of Communications at the Presidency.
He is the NPP parliamentary candidate for the Awutu Senya West constituency in the Central Region.
Mr Arhin polled 862 votes, while his main contender, Mr Opei Okai, trailed behind with 119 votes in the party’s primaries held on December 2, 2024.
He is set to face off with the incumbent Member of Parliament, Gizella Tetteh, who is with the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2024 general elections.
- Alhaji Dr Mahama Tiah Abdul-Kabiru
Dr Mahama is the Technical Advisor to the Vice President.
He contested against Tahiru Shaman, Jangdow Mahama and the incumbent MP and Gender Minister Hajia Lariba Abudu Zuweira for the Walewale parliamentary seat.
At the end of Saturday’s polls, Dr Mahama unseated the sitting MP with a nine-vote difference.
Dr Bawumia will see it as a win since Dr Mahama is also in his camp, despite the loss by his cousin, Lariba.
- Fawaz Aliu
Fawaz Aliu is a Deputy Chief of Staff at the Office of the President who is chasing the Zabzugu parliamentary seat
He beat the incumbent John Bennam to clinch the Zabzugu NPP parliamentary candidacy.
Mr Aliu is following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Francis Asenso-Boakye and John Jinapor, who also transitioned from the same office to become parliamentarians.
- Jefferson Sackey
Jefferson Kwamena Sackey is a former reporter and news anchor.
He is currently a Deputy Director of Communications at the Office of the President.
Mr Sackey is the New Patriotic Party’s parliamentary candidate contesting for the Ablekuma Central seat in the upcoming 2024 general election.
He polled 539 votes to beat three other contenders – Messrs Collins Amoah, Larry Anyetei Adjei and Ebenezer Nartey during NPP’s December 2 primaries.
He will go head-to-head with the NDC incumbent MP, Abdul-Latif Dan.
- Akosua Manu
A social marketer and political activist, Akosua Manu is the deputy chief executive officer of the Ghana National Youth Authority (NYA).
In December 2023, Madam Manu, known as Kozie, contested and won NPP’s parliamentary slot for the Adentan Constituency during the party’s primaries for orphan constituencies.
She polled 814 votes, closely followed by Kwasi Obeng Fosu with 638 votes.
She will face NDC’s Mohammed Ramadan, who currently holds the seat in the 2024 elections.
- Dr Kingsley Agyemang
The Chief Executive Officer of the Scholarship Secretariat is vying for the Abuakwa South constituency parliamentary seat.
He won the NPP primary in the constituency with an overwhelming victory over legal practitioner and women’s rights activist Gloria Ofori-Boadu.
He polled 563 against his opponent’s 29 votes.
- Harriet Kyeremanteng Oppong
Harriet Kyeremanteng Oppong is the special aide to the Chief of Staff and the deputy director of political affairs at the Chief of Staff’s office.
She emerged as the parliamentary candidate of the ruling NPP for Nkoranza South in the Bono East during the party’s December 2 primaries for orphaned constituencies.
She secured 666 votes, representing 84.1% of the total valid votes cast as against her main opponent and former MP Charles Konadu Yiadom, who polled 126 votes.
- Frank Asiedu Bekoe
Frank Asiedu Bekoe, also known as Protozoa, is the Director of Political Affairs at the Office of the Chief of Staff at the Presidency.
He is now vying for the parliamentary candidate on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) ticket for Suhum Constituency in the Eastern Region.
Mr Bekoe battled the incumbent NPP MP of the area, Kwadjo Asante, in the primaries and won with 499 votes.
- Kwame Appiah Kodua
The Eastern Regional Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) is also eyeing the Fanteakwa North Constituency parliamentary seat.
Mr Kodua won the ticket to represent the New Patriotic Party in the upcoming general elections after he polled against the incumbent MP, Kwabena Amankwa Asiamah, Barbara Maka-MacCugen, David Twum Antwi and Gabriel Kese-Yeboah.