With about nine days to the Akwatia Constituency parliamentary by-election scheduled for Tuesday, September 2, 2025, the two major political parties, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) have intensified their campaign to win the vacant seat.
Both regional and national executives of the two main political parties have descended on Akwatia to win the hearts and minds of voters in the area to ensure that they vote for their respective candidates.
Candidates
A 40-year old licensed small scale miner, Solomon Kwame Asumadu, aka Owusu, is contesting the parliamentary seat to replace the late Ernest Kumi, while a legal practitioner, Bernard Bediako, is trying to reclaim the seat for the NDC.
The NDC and the NPP are the only parties which have filed nominations to contest the crucial by-election.
The Daily Graphic last Friday visited the constituency to gauge the mood in the area as well as the preparedness of the Electoral Commission (EC) and the Ghana Police Service.
EC/mood
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Denkyembour District Director of the EC, Francisca Safo, said the election management body had completed the necessary preparations for the by-election.
She stated that her outfit had received all the materials and other logistics for election in all the 119 polling stations in the constituency.
According to Ms Safo, a total of 52,338 registered voters would participate in all the 119 polling stations in the constituency.
She stressed that the EC would do everything possible to ensure free, fair and transparent polls at all the polling stations for both the victor and the vanquished to accept the verdict of the election.
A visit by this writer to 12 of the communities which would take part in the by-election showed that the people were in election mood.
At the lorry parks, ‘okada’ stations, drinking spots, eateries and chop bars, the people were discussing the upcoming by-election.
Security
Security has also been beefed up in all the communities that would participate in the by-election.
The police administration under the leadership of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Christian Tetteh Yohuno, said 5,000 police personnel would be deployed to provide security to ensure an incident free election.
To this end, the Daily Graphic, during the visit, saw police personnel who had mounted check points along the main roads, streets and other vantage points in all the communities.
They also conducted thorough checks on vehicles and people entering those communities to prevent them from carrying along ‘explosives’ and other dangerous materials to the polling stations to disrupt the by-election.
This writer could count not less than 100 police check points which were manned by uniformed police personnel.
More than 30 police vehicles were also seen patrolling the constituency, with some of them carrying student mattresses on which the deployed police personnel would sleep.
Background
The by-election has become necessary following the demise of the NPP’s Member of Parliament for the constituency, Ernest Yaw Kumi, who passed away after being a legislator for only six months.
The late Ernest Kumi defeated the NDC’s candidate in the 2024 parliamentary election, Henry Boakye Yiadom by 19,269 to 17,206, a difference of 2,063 votes.
