A communications team member of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Hamza Suhuyini Sayibu, has said the party will not opt out of the upcoming Akwatia by-election slated for September 2, 2025.
The Electoral Commission announced a date for the by-election after the Member of Parliament for the constituency, Ernest Yaw Kumi, passed away.
A few weeks after, the Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, also died with seven others in a military helicopter crash en route to Obuasi for a national assignment.
It is expected that the EC, as per constitutional demands, will announce a date for a by-election. But even before the official declaration of the seat as vacant, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has announced that it will abstain from the contest.
The development has caused many to admonish the NDC to do the same with the Akwatia by-election, since the seat was earlier held by the NPP.
But the NDC says, although it has abstained from a by-election before, it is not going to replicate same in Akwatia.
According to Suhuyini, the NPP’s decision is a strategic move meant to score political points, and it is not something that will impact the NDC’s stance on the upcoming Akwatia by-election.
Speaking on TV3’s Big Issue, a segment on the NewDay morning show on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, the NDC Communications team member asserted that opting out of the Akwatia by-election would be a disservice to the constituents.
He believes the people should be given the right to choose whom they want to represent them in Parliament, rather than imposing someone on them.
“…so, in the case of Akwatia, the NDC, if it had taken a decision to withdraw, what it simply meant is that it was denying the good people of Akwatia [the opportunity] to make an informed decision as to who to represent them in Parliament,” he stated.
Suhuyini added that the leadership of the party could take such a decision to abstain, but that may not represent the aspirations of the constituents, since they know the right person they want to represent them in Parliament.
“The NDC would have thought that we don’t need the votes but it’s not about uyou. Maybe the people in their own judgement would have concluded that if the NDC had presented a candidate, we could have taken advantage because the NDC is in government now,” he stated.
Suhuyini, in his response to the NPP’s decision on the Tamale Central by-election, added that a democracy is anchored on the rule of law and not on the political sentiments of a particular group.
