Eight persons including a former Member of Parliament, Opanyin Yaw Baah, have reportedly picked nomination forms to contest in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Kumawu Parliamentary Primary.

The Kumawu seat was declared vacant by the Speaker of Parliament two weeks ago after the sitting MP, Hon Philip Basoah died in late March.

Already, the Electoral Commission has been notified through the Clerk of the Parliament about the vacancy in accordance with Section 3 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana (Amendment) Act 1996, Act 527.

By this, the EC will have to hold a by-election for the constituency to elect another representative.

Ahead of that, the ruling party opened nominations on April 11 for interested persons to pick forms and contest in a primary scheduled for April 23.

As of April 14, eight persons had shown interest in representing the NPP by picking forms.

They include former Member of Parliament (MP) for Kumawu, Opanyin Yaw Baah; the current Director of Health Promotion at the Ghana Health Services (GHS), Dr Aboagye Dacosta; Obaapa Ama Serwaa, Ernest Anim, Dr Philip Yaw Barnor, Edward Kofi Osei, Kwame Appiah Kubi and Owusu Bempah, Graphic reports.

The nomination will close today, Friday 14th April, 2023. Meanwhile, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is yet to make public its plans towards the NPP stronghold.

Kumawu constituency has always voted for NPP parliamentary candidates except in 1992, however, it is not known if the trend will continue this time around.

Hon Philip Basoah died aged 54 after joining the 7th Parliament in January 2017.
He retained his seat in the 2020 General elections and remained a legislator until his death.

During his tenure in Parliament, he served as the Chairman of the Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises Committee; a member of the Lands and Forestry Committee; and a member of the Selection Committee.

He worked as the Projects Coordinator of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in the Ashanti Region and as District Chief Executive at the Ministry of Local Government for the Sekyere East District from June 2005 to January 2009.

Source: sompaonline.com/Nana Yaw Boamah