The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the All People’s Congress (APC) have decided not to participate in the Ejisu Constituency by-election, scheduled for 30 April 2024.
The decision comes after the Member of Parliament for the area, John Ampontuah Kumah of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), passed away on 7 March 2024, following a brief illness.
The NPP is currently preparing to select a new candidate for the by-election which will be supervised by the Electoral Commission (EC). Nine candidates have so far been cleared by the party to contest for the seat.
Mr. Isham Alhassan, the Ashanti Regional Organiser of the NDC, explained that the party has opted out of the race citing concerns about the wastage of resources.
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“I am speaking on authority that the NDC will not contest this by-election. We don’t want to benefit from [John Kumah’s] death. Looking at the time frame if the Electoral Commission does not conduct the election before May, any political party who contests this election is just causing financial loss to the party,” Mr Alhassan emphasized.
On their part, the APC Hassan Ayariga, Founder and Chairman, Hassan Ayariga, stated that his party will not be presenting a candidate for the upcoming Ejisu by-election, scheduled for Tuesday, April 30.
“The incident is a tragedy and we do not believe that it is an opportunity for any political party or anybody else to contest for that seat. The reason why we are not putting a candidate is that we want to leave the seat and the space for the NPP to put a candidate,” Mr Ayariga indicated.
