Following his victory in the Parliamentary primaries of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Saturday, pressure group, Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) has expressed optimism that its president Dr. Ayew Afriyie will be elected into Parliament in 2016.
Dr. Afriyie defeated the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the Effiduase-Asokore constituency, Frank Boakye Agyeman polling 293 votes to Mr. Agyeman’s 102.
[contextly_sidebar id=”ClCcxe6kMo1zqFW7inIjcfkJQ4K27i8F”]The Director of Operations for AFAG, Abu Ramadan, told Citi News in an interview that given the history of the constituency in parliamentary elections, there is a great chance that Dr. Afriyie will be elected into Parliament next year.
He also believes that Dr. Afriyie’s presence in Parliament would only help increase the group’s influence in matters relating to government’s accountability.
“Without a shade of doubt we [AFAG] would be so happy as colleagues to see somebody from our fold get to Parliament and be part of the legislature. It further helps and deepens the activities of our group because in Parliament, we will be privy to more information, more facts that has to do with accountability for the people of this country,” he said.
“For that matter 2016 and I know Dr. Afriyie will certainly, when you look at the history of that constituency, he is already in Parliament; one leg of his is already in Parliament. He’s MP elect already.”
24 big names fall
24 incumbent Members of Parliament of the NPP will not have the opportunity to return to the House in 2016, following their defeats on Saturday.
Arguably, the most high profile names in that list are Dr. Richard Anane of Nhyiaeso Constituency, Dr. Afriyie Akoto of Kwadoso and Francis Addai-Nimoh (Mampong Constituency) who contested Nana Akufo Addo for the chance to be the party’s flagbearer in 2016.
Among the new potential MPs is 22-year-old Francisca Oteng-Mensah, a law student at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) who ousted incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Kofi Frimpong in the Kwabre East constituency.
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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