Amoako Asiamah wins Fomena seat as independent candidate
The development will see the former NPP MP Andrew Asiamah return to the law-making chamber as an independent lawmaker
Andrew Amoako Asiamah, the embattled Former Member of Parliament for Fomena has won the seat as an independent candidate.
He polled 12,805 votes to beat his two main contenders, Philip Ofori Asante of New Patriotic (10,798) and Christina Ama Ranson (2,608)
Another candidate, Eric Appiagyei had 158 votes.
The total votes cast in the constituency was 26,616 with 26,369 valid votes and 247 rejected ballots.
Background
The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye in November declared the Fomena seat in the Adansi North District of the Ashanti Region vacant, following a decision by the incumbent MP to contest for re-election as an independent candidate.
Amoako Andrew Asiamah, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Fomena, is no longer running on the ticket of the governing party, and according to the rules of Parliament and the constitution of Ghana, the seat must be declared vacant, the Speaker said.
Article 97 (1)(g) of the 1992 constitution of Ghana states that a member of parliament shall vacate his seat if he leaves the party of which he was a member at the time of his election to Parliament to join another party or seeks to remain in Parliament as an independent member.
“[To] all intents and purposes, he is no longer a member of the party,” Professor Oquaye said in a ruling delivered on Saturday (7 November). He has pronounced himself publicly as an independent and has filed his papers to compete against the party in his official [capacity] as an independent on 7 December 2020.
“Having forfeited the membership of the party on whose ticket he was elected to Parliament, the operative language of the constitution is that, he shall – which is mandatory – vacate his seat in Parliament.”
The Speaker’s ruling follows a letter from the governing NPP to his office, informing him of the MP’s decision to renounce his party membership.
Asiamah withdrew from the NPP to register his reservations in relation to what he termed “machinations to get him out” during the party’s primaries. He lost the primaries in June 2020 and has subsequently filed to run as an independent candidate in the 7 December polls.
Fred Dzakpata
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