Six contestants have been cleared by the Electoral Commission(EC) to contest the Ejisu by-election slated for Tuesday, April 30, 2024.
This comes after nominations were closed on Thursday, April 18, 2024, with some candidates racing against time to submit their forms at the EC’s office in the Ashanti Region.
According to their positions in the slot, the six candidates are Esther Osei (CPP), Kwabena Boateng (NPP), Beatrice Boakye (LPG), Kwabena Owusu Aduomi (Independent), Gabriel Agyemang Joseph (Independent), and Attakorah Joseph (Independent).
Meanwhile, confusion broke out after some executives of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) blocked its parliamentary candidate, Esther Osei, from filing her nomination application.
The party’s Regional Chairman, Emmanuel Gallo, is said to have directed the EC not to receive the documents, leaving Madam Osei’s campaign team stranded.
The development stems from an ongoing legal tussle within the CPP following the mass resignation of top party officials. Deputy National Organiser Eric Osei Boateng rebuked the Regional Chairman for his actions.
“Of late, there has been some internal wrangling in our party, which has since been resolved by the High Court… So, at the last committee meeting the Council resolved to contest the by-election only to be told by the EC officers that our candidate can’t file. But after reaching out to the EC regional office and headquarters, the nomination forms have been received,” Osei Boateng explained.
The by-election has become necessary due to the death of the incumbent Member of Parliament for the constituency and Deputy Finance Minister, Dr John Ampontuah Kumah, on March 7, 2024, after a short illness.
Also, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has officially stated that it will not partake in the Ejisu by-election.
The General Secretary of the NDC, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, addressing the media and key participants at a programme dubbed ‘Moment of Truth’ explained that the party was rather focusing on preparing for the main parliamentary elections in December this year, and that was why the leadership of the party was not considering the Ejisu by-election.
“NDC will officially not be taking part in the Ejisu by-election. We have already set into motion processes leading to December 7, just a few months away. We want to continue those processes and ensure that come December 7, we are prepared to combat in all the constituencies and Ejisu will be one of them. So for this particular by-election, NDC will not be part of it. We are very confident about the processes we have in place. We just want to make sure we have the time to implement them fully. And between now and December 7, we will be in the position to make sure we are deploying everything that we have done so that really will be the way we want to go,” he noted.