A former minister in the erstwhile John Kufuor government, Peter Kwamena Essilfie Bartels, has bounced back after a long lull on the political scene by predicting that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will wrestle back the Assin North seat in today’s bye-elections.
According to the former Member of Parliament for Ablekuma North, after analysing the grounds in the Assin North constituency, he can confidently say that, “…the NPP has already won, it will be close and victory will be for the NPP”.
The former minister for Works and Housing emphasised that the party stands for development and the people of Assin North can testify to the various developmental projects going on in the constituency. As a result, he believes the people would give their mandate to the NPP candidate, Charles Opoku.
Speaking to The Chronicle from the campaign grounds of the New Patriotic Party in Assin North yesterday, he also admitted that he has not been at the forefront of party activities for some time now because he is anxious to help the leadership of the party to encourage and promote the youth in the party to take over from the old generation.
He disclosed that, “we need to give the spotlight to the young people and not compete with them, allow them to make their mistakes and learn from them and to enrich their decisions with our advice, based on our experiences and knowledge “
On Breaking the Eight
According to Mr Kwamena Bartels, the NPP stands the chance of breaking the eight because the people have seen the fulfillment of the promises that were made in their manifesto.
“It is going to be done. The people have seen the fulfilment of the promises we made in our manifesto and the changes that have come into their lives when NPP took power seven years ago,” he said.
In spite of the impact of Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine on the economy, he believes that the hardship brought by the twin global occurrences will practically come to an end by the year 2024, when the general elections will be held.
He continued, “The elections in December 2024 is going to be World War ‘4’, all hands must be on deck, that is why the old in the party are coming out to bring their experience to bear on the campaign, so that victory will be ours and we will break the jinx of the Eight (8)”.
Background
The Assin North by-election has become necessary after parliament wrote to the Electoral Commission declaring the seat vacant. This followed a Supreme Court ruling that the Electoral Commission acted unconstitutionally in allowing Mr James Gyakye Quayson to contest the 2020 parliamentary election without proof of him renouncing his Canadian Citizenship.
The apex court, in its ruling, ordered parliament to expunge James Gyakye Quayson’s name from its records as a Member of Parliament. It further declared that his election was unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect. His swearing-in was equally declared to be unconstitutional.
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