Three men have successfully gone through vetting to contest the upcoming New Patriotic Party’s parliamentary primaries in the Akwatia constituency slated for April 25. The three men, Bernard Owiredu Donkor, Ernest Yaw Kumi and Robert Boateng Ampratwum, will be contesting the sitting MP and the only woman in the race, Mercy Adu Gyamfi.
Ama Sey, as Ms Adu-Gyamfi is popularly called, ousted then vibrant NDC MP for the area, Baba Ahmed Mohammed Jamal, in the 2016 election. She polled 21,433 votes, representing 57.21 per cent of the valid votes.
Akwatia politics
The Akwatia parliamentary seat is one of the typical swing seats in the country. The opposition National Democratic Congress won the seat twice, in 1992 and 1996, before Kingston Akomeng Kissi, current Eastern Regional Chairman of the NPP, snatched it in 2000 for the NPP.
The NPP maintained the seat from 2000 to 2008 until it lost it to the NDC in 2012. Dr Kofi Asare, the NPP’s former MP who succeeded Mr Kissi, after the latter had voluntarily opted out of Parliament, lost the seat to the NDC’s Baba Ahmed Jamal in 2012.
Violence
Dr Asare won the seat narrowly in 2008 in an election that was marred with ballot box snatching in some six polling stations, leading to a re-run of those polling stations in December 2019 following a Supreme Court ruling.
The six polling stations’ rerun witnessed one of the worst electoral violence to have ever occurred in the country. Tension was so high in the constituency that the Ministry of Interior was forced to place curfew on the town.
Electoral malpractices marred that election and party vigilantes almost took over completely. At one polling station, the MP for Okere, Dan Botwe, was prevented by vigilantes, believed to be associated with the NDC, from serving as a polling station agent for the NPP.
2016 election
Ahead of the 2016 general election, the NPP was to present a candidate who could defeat Baba Jamal, then Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations.
Ama Sey, who had then been appointed as the party’s constituency women’s organiser, following the promotion of Kate Gyamfua, then constituency women organiser, to a deputy national women’s organiser, put herself up for the contest.
Two men, Dr Asare, the former MP, and Philip Kofi Ankomah, an electrical engineer who had contested four primaries of the party and lost all, contested her in the primaries. Typical of Akwatia elections, the election was characterised with so much tension that a supporter of Mr Ankomah collapsed during the counting of the ballot.
Ama Sey won with 311 votes, beating Mr Ankomah who had 183 votes and Dr. Asare who could only manage 35 votes.
About Ama Sey
A hairdresser with virtually no formal education, Ama Sey’s educational background became topical in the campaign. A smear campaign was waged against her, with verbal attacks on her personality by the Eastern Regional branch of the NDC.
Ama Sey is a business woman and a hair dresser by profession. Before entering Parliament, she was the managing director of Amasey Pharmacy, Kade. She attended Presby Middle School in Akwatia, where she obtained Middle School Leaving Certificate (MSLC). In parliament, she serves on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises committees.
Her supporters believe her abilities in scaling above the odds make her the best candidate for the seat. The NPP women caucus in Parliament have also thrown their weight behind her.
Bernard Owiredu Donkor
The private legal practitioner is the Electoral Area coordinator of the party at Akyem Kusi. He holds a BSc Chemistry from the University of Ghana. At University of Ghana, he served as a member of Akuafo Hall Senate and played in the Hall’s men football team.
In 2007, he enrolled at the Alliance Francais School, Accra, where he studied French language. In 2009, he enrolled in University of Ghana Law Faculty, graduating with a Bachelor of Law (LLB) in 2011. He entered the Ghana Law School the same year, and was called to the bar in 2013. He also holds Certificate in Insurance Claims and Re-Insurance from the National Insurance College.
The young lawyer taught Chemistry and Biology at St Thomas Senior High, Asamankese, and also worked briefly as Quality Assurance Manager at a food processing company in Tema before pursuing law. He has been involved in some high profile cases such as the Aisha Huang case, the Kwabenya Police shooting case, the SSNIT OBS case, among others. He is currently a retainer lawyer for host of entities, including Denkyembour District Assembly.
Robert Agyenim Boateng Ampratwum
Ing Ampratwum is a Certified Professional Engineer, Procurement and Contract Management Specialist, Policy Analyst and a Rural Development Expert. He is a member of the Ghana Institute of Engineering (GhIE), Ghana Society of Agricultural Engineering (GSAE), Project Management Institute (PMI) and Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Chain (CIPS). The young man, whose supporters are campaigning on the catch phrase “the real game changer”, is an old student of St. Augustine’s College, Cape Coast, and holds a BSc. Agricultural Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. After university, he worked briefly at the Adum-Kumasi branch of Agricultural Development Bank (ADB). He later worked at Agricultural Engineering Service Directorate (AESD) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture as Assistant Agricultural Engineer and District Agricultural Engineer of Builsa District in 2011. Six months later, he was made the Regional Agricultural Engineer of Eastern Region.
He was transferred to the Project Office of MOFA as Agricultural Engineering Expert in the Procurement Unit, where he has since gained remarkable exposure, experience and contacts whilst working with various donor agencies such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Agence Française de Developpment (AFD).
Ernest Yaw Kumi
Yaw Kumi is a corporate governance expert with diverse expertise in risk management, logistics and administration, fraud detections and investigation with strong business acumen. He has over ten years specialisation in administration planning and governance, policy and process developments & implementation, financial management, project leads, budget preparations, human resource management, supply chain management and new business generations.
An astute communicator, he is a member of the party’s national communication team. He holds a Bachelor of Law (LLB) from Mount Crest University, an MBA (Corporate Governance) from University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Professional Certificate in Corporate Governance from Institute of Directors Ghana and an Executive Mastery Certificate in Business Administration and Enterprise Leadership (Project Management, Logistics and Transport Management Options) from Graduate School of Governance and Leadership (GSGL)
The security expert also holds Professional Diploma in Security Management and Advanced Investigations and a BSc. Ports and Shipping Administration from Regional Maritime University.
Known as the Akwatia Star boy, he has served on several committees in the NPP, including the Eastern Regional Youth Finance Working Committee.
