The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, has disclosed that he was very hurt when he found out that the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) had lost the Akwatia seat in the 2020 election.

President Akufo-Addo said the Akwatia seat was not part of those he expected the NPP to lose in the polls.

Speaking at a durbar of Chiefs and people of Akwatia as part of his tour of the Eastern Region on Thursday, President Akufo-Addo said the NPP will do all it can to win back the seat.

According to him, winning that seat back is non-negotiable for the party.

“The NPP lost a lot of parliamentary seats we should have won in the 2020 elections. One of such seats which hurt me the most was the Akwatia seat. I honestly don’t know what happened but I was sad that Akwatia went to the NDC, but I can assure you that in 2024, we will do everything within our means to regain that seat.”

About the Akwatia seat
NPP’s Mercy Adu Gyamfi, popularly known as Ama Sey, won the seat in the 2016 elections from the NDC’s Baba Jamal, a former Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development in a contest that a lot of political analysts thought was a mismatch.

However, Ama Sey lost the NPP 2020 primaries to Ernest Kumi under controversial circumstances. She subsequently demanded a recount of the ballots because she claims four deceased persons had their names in the electoral album and were declared to have voted.

Unsuccessful at that, there were reports that most of the residents in Akwatia were unhappy with happenings in the constituency, and that she was contesting as an Independent Candidate.

But Ama Sey later heeded to pleas from President Akufo-Addo, and Senior Presidential Advisor, the then Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo, and other prominent traditional leaders including Okyehene Amoatia Ofori Panin not to contest as an independent candidate.

However, Ernest Kumi lost the seat to NDC’s candidate in the polls.

This was after some bigwigs in the party such as the Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, Henry Nana Boakye, the National Youth Organiser, and others joined in a health walk in the constituency for the candidate.

It was thus clear that the internal NPP issues largely caused the party to lose the seat.