A total of thirty-five candidates have filed at the close of filing of nomination to contest for nine parliamentary seats in the Western Region in the upcoming New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary primaries.
Out of the thirty-five parliamentary aspirants in the Western region, twenty-six of them will compete with nine incumbent Members of Parliament (MPs) in nine constituencies in the region.
Tarkwa Nsuaem, Ahanta West, Mpohor, Kwesimintsim, Effia, Takoradi, Sekondi, Essikado–Ketan, and Shama make up the nine constituencies in the Western Region that the New Patriotic Party has incumbent Member of Parliament.
George Mireku-Duker, a two-term Member of Parliament and Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources is one of the prominent contenders in the region. He is running against Francis Elliason and Gordon Opoku Boateng, the former New Patriotic Party second vice chairman, in the Tarkwa Nsuaem parliamentary seat.
In Ahanta West Constituency, there are four contestants which include John Kwesi Yankey, Francis Eric Pobee, John Agyare, the Municipal Chief Executive, and Benedict Appau, the party’s current Second Vice Chairman.
In the Mpohor Constituency, John Kobina Abbam Aboah Sanie, a one-time Member of Parliament, Alex Kofi Agyekum, an immediate past 2- term Member of Parliament, and Philip Asirifi Cobbina are competing for the parliamentary seat.
Again, first-term Member of Parliament, Dr. Prince Hamid Armah is keen to win the parliamentary seat in Kwesimintsim, where he will face off against Dr. Yaa Pokuaa Baiden, the former deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
Moreover, the current Member of Parliament for the Effia Constituency, Joseph Cudjoe, is competing with Isaac Boamah Nyarko while the current Western Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for Takoradi, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, is running against Frederick Sam-Incoom, a former youth organizer, and a man named Richard Essuman Addison. The incumbent Member of Parliament, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah has served four terms.
More so, the Deputy Minister of Energy and two-term Member of Parliament for Sekondi Constituency, Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer is seeking for election. He is receiving competition from Benjamin Paa Kwasi Moses, a former regional officer of the New Patriotic and constable.
In Essikado-Ketan Constituency, Charles N. O. Cromwell Bissue, the former Western Regional Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, Anna Horma Akaisie Mieza, the Western Regional Treasurer and Deputy Director-General of the National Lottery Authority, and the former youth organizer in the Constituency Giovani Osei Tutu are seeking to win the parliamentary seat as the incumbent lawmaker, Joe Ghattey bows out of Parliament.
Additionally, in Shama Constituency the first-term Member of Parliament Samuel Ericson Abekah Esq., the former District Chief Executive, Joseph Amoah, the women’s organizer for the constituency Emelia Aikins, and Isaac Kwamena Afful are all vying for the parliamentary primaries.
Meanwhile, the Extraordinary Constituency Delegates’ Conference of the New Patriotic Party is scheduled for January 27, 2024. A statement issued by the party’s General Secretary, Lawyer Justin Frimpong-Kodua indicated that the party has earmarked January 9 2024 as the final day for the submission of appeals concerning the party’s parliamentary primaries.
The New Patriotic Party is expected to elect its parliamentary candidates for all the constituencies it has incumbent Members of Parliament with the exception of Akuapem North Constituency which elected its parliamentary candidate during the December 2 2023 orphan constituencies primaries.
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