A former member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Solomon Owusu, has dismissed claims that the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) needed to win the Akwatia by-election to boost the government’s morale.
Rather, he believes it is the New Patriotic Party that needed that victory to rekindle the party.
This assertion contradicts that of University of Ghana’s political science lecturer, Dr. Joshua Jebuntie Zaato, who argued that the NDC rather needed that victory to salvage its reputation after recording early failures in government.
“The NDC needed this victory like a blind man needs his sight,” Dr. Zaato had said on the BigIssue segment on the NewDay on TV3 Wednesday, September 3, 2025.
READ ALSO: Akwatia by-election: ‘The NDC needed this victory like a blind man needs his sight’ – Zaato
Solomon Owusu, now a member of the Movement for Change’s communications team, also commenting on the same show attributed the NPP’s high-level campaign efforts to their eagerness for victory in that by-election.
He noted that prominent figures such as Ken Agyapong, Bryan Acheampong, Vice President Mahamoud Bawumia, and President Akufo-Addo converged on Akwatia to campaign, alongside other key party officials, including the Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin and the party’s General Secretary and National Organiser.
Meanwhile, Owusu said: “I didn’t see current President John Mahama there. But in the past by-elections, be it Kumawu, be it Assin North, you saw Akufo-Addo there. So in terms of who took this election serious, there is no doubt that the NPP needed this seat to rejuvenate their party, more than anybody in this country.”
The by-election was held in Akwatia, a constituency in the Eastern region, following the death of their Member of Parliament, Ernest Yaw Kumi.
Over 50,000 registered voters were expected to cast their ballot to select a replacement for the constituency in the Tuesday, September 2, 2025 election.
The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) put forward Bernard Bediako Baidoo as its candidate, while the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was represented by Solomon Kwame Asumadu.
The NDC’s Bediako Baidoo polled 18,199 of the 33,518 valid votes cast, as against 15,235 votes of the NPP’s Solomon Asumadu.
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