Twumasi Appiah's ambition cut short

Felix Twumasi Appiah

The vociferous ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Sene, now the Sene West constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region, Mr. Felix Twumasi Appiah, had his bid to enter parliament for the fourth consecutive time cut short as he was defeated in a keenly contested primaries of the party held at Kwame Danso, the district capital.

Mr. Twumasi Appiah was defeated on Tuesday by his closest rival, Mr. Kwame Twumasi Ampofo, a US based Pharmaceutical Company Manager with 147 votes as against 87 obtained by the sitting MP.

The other contestant in the race, Alhaji Mahamudu Gowondodo, a former Sene constituency executive and now a Brong Ahafo Regional Executive Member of the NDC, also secured 27 votes.

The defeat of the incumbent MP was met with spontaneous jubilation across the constituency.

Mr. Twumasi Appiah has been MP since 2000 and this was his fourth time to go to parliament. That dream, however, fizzed out yesterday.

The Sene East constituency primaries , one of the yet to be approved constituencies which was carved out of Sene, was won by Mr. Dominic Napare, the current District Chief Executive for Sene.

Mr. Napare polled 202 votes to win the parliamentary slot of the party for Sene East constituency with Raphael Kofi Kpeson, Kofi Nkeensen and Franklin Boti obtaining 32, 14, and 10 votes respectively.

Mr. Justice Samuel Adjei, the NDC Regional Secretary who conducted the primaries held at Kajeji, the capital of the newly created Sene East District, said all the primaries organised by the party in the region was peaceful.

In a related development, two other contestants who were the sole candidates for Banda and Tain constituencies, Mr. Ahmed Ibrahim, the NDC sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for Tain and Nana Yaw Gyn-Tutu received popular acclamation to become the NDC parliamentary candidates for the Banda and Tain constituencies respectively.

The Banda constituency was carved out of the Tain District or constituency and it is also one of the yet to be approved constituencies.

The Dormaa central constituency ticket was won by Prof. Agyenim Boateng while municipal chief executives (MCEs) for Dormaa and Berekum, Messrs. Vincent Oppong Asamoah and Lord Stephen Oppong also got the nod to contest on the parliamentary ticket of the NDC for the Dormaa West and Berekum Central constituencies respectively in the forthcoming Presidential and Parliamentary elections on December 7, 2012.