Former Akwatia legislator, Baba Jamal, has expressed concern over the decision of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to conduct fresh primaries ahead of the September 2 by-election.
He believes the party would have been better served by maintaining its 2024 parliamentary candidate, Henry Boakye Yiadom, widely known as Okoyo.
In an interview on Citi FM on Wednesday, August 27, Mr Jamal argued that Okoyo had already established strong visibility and goodwill during the December 2024 general election, which should have been built upon.
“I was not in support of any primaries. I thought that we should have maintained the status quo and allowed the old candidate to continue. Other people thought otherwise, and we are in a democracy, so the majority of the people will always carry the day,” he said.
While disagreeing with the decision, the former MP emphasised the importance of unity and urged all factions to rally behind the party’s new candidate.
“Now it is for us as NDC to work hard to confirm and consolidate the unity among our supporters. I don’t think we are doing badly in that direction.
The two other candidates, Asanka and Okoyo, have always appeared on all our platforms with our new candidate,” he noted.
The NDC primary in Akwatia featured three contenders: Henry Boakye Yiadom, Bernard Bediako Baidoo Esq., the constituency secretary, and Erasmus Koney Ali, popularly known as Asanka Poyooyo.
At the end of the contest, Bernard Bediako Baidoo emerged as the victor and will represent the NDC in the forthcoming by-election.