President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that the peaceful and civil manner the recent Kumawu by-election was conducted should be a model for future elections in the country.
“Kumawu has given a good signal to the country of the way we want our democracy to function and how elections should be conducted,” he added.
The President commended the people of Kumawu for “being such a good model for the rest of the country to follow on how elections should be conducted in the country”.
President Akufo-Addo was speaking when the Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Stephen Ntim, led some executive of the party to introduce the Member of Parliament-elect for Kumawu, Ernest Yaw Annim, to him at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday.
Other members of the delegation included the Kumawumanhene, Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua; the General-Secretary of the NPP, Justin Kodua Frimpong; the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu; the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the party, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, and the MP for Effiduase-Asokore, Nana Ayew Afriyie.
President Akufo-Addo expressed appreciation to the Kumawu Omanhene for his contribution in ensuring the election was conducted peacefully and with civility, while congratulating the MP-elect for his victory.
He also thanked the party executive, as well as the constituents for the overwhelming victory and said that with a focussed and united front the NPP could achieve more victories.
President Akufo-Addo singled out the MP for Effiduase-Asokore, Nana Ayew Afriyie, for his organisational skills throughout the electioneering period to the day of the polls.
Reacting to claims that ongoing projects, including road works in Kumawu were to be discontinued after the elections, the President gave an assurance that those projects would be completed on schedule.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the projects “were not for election gimmick, that would not be my case and it is not true at all. Nana you can be rest assured”.
The Omanhene commended the President and the government for the love and concern they demonstrated during the funeral of the late MP for the constituency, Philip Basoah, especially when the President led a delegation to the final funeral rites.
He described the MP-elect as a son and said that although there was low turnout in the by-election, the party still won massively, adding “Mr President, the whole of Kumawu is proud of you for what you have done”.
Present at the meeting was the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare; the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, and a Deputy Director of Communications at the Presidency, Jefferson Kwamena Sackey.