The National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) Deputy Director of Elections and IT, Rashid Tanko-Computer, has described the outcome of the party’s Akwatia primary as “beauty of democracy.”
Tanko-Computer believes the leadership made the right decision by allowing all interested persons to contest, ensuring the best candidate is chosen for the upcoming by-election.
However, his comments come amid concerns that the victorious candidate, Bernard Bediako Baidoo, was the lawyer for his competitor, Henry Boakye Yiadom, in a court challenge against the late MP, Ernest Yaw Kumi’s declaration by the Electoral Commission in the 2024 election.
Responding to the assertion that the dynamics suggest the winning candidate ‘stabbed his client in the back,’ Mr. Tanko-Computer said the party would have been on the losing side if the primary hadn’t been conducted freely.
According to him, the leadership’s intelligence suggested that imposing a particular candidate on the party would have been costly, adding that the outcome reflects the true spirit of democracy.
Speaking on Ghana Tonight on TV3 Monday, August 4, 2025, he said: “This is the beauty of democracy. The NDC is a social democratic party, that’s why initially when we opened the primary, people did not understand the reason behind that but now they are getting to understand the reason behind going for the primary.
“We had an intelligence that if we had forced a candidate on the people of Akwatia, the repercussion would have been grave so we decided to go this round by opening nomination and allowing the people to test their strength before the delegates and clearly it turned out that the was the best of decision the Functional executive took in allowing this primary to come on.”
Bernard Bediako Baidoo, a 40-year-old legal practitioner, was elected as the candidate for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the upcoming Akwatia constituency parliamentary by-election.
He defeated his closest contender, Erasmus Koney Ali, by 380 votes to 366 votes, while Henry Yiadom Boakye, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for the area got 226 votes.
A total of 975 voted of which three votes were rejected. In all, 1,075 delegates were expected to cast their votes, but 101 could not make it.
Baidoo, after his victory, asked supporters of the party to continue to remain united and work very hard to help snatch the seat from the NPP.
“My victory today is not for me alone but the entire NDC family in the constituency. We have to bury our differences and forge ahead in unity to win the seat from the NPP at the by-election,” he said.
According to Mr Baidoo, the electorate were tired of NPP in the constituency and he was hopeful that they would vote massively for him to support President John Dramani Mahama deliver on his promises.
Akwatia by-election: NPP has shot itself in the foot with candidate imposition – Ebo Buckman
