The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquay has declared the Fomena seat vacant after the MP, Andrew Amoako Asiamah decided to contest as an Independent candidate.
On October 13th, 2020, the NPP wrote to the Speaker of Parliament to trigger the provisions of Article 97 (1)g for the seat in the house to be declared vacant.
The Speaker delivered his ruling on the request in parliament on Saturday just before the chairperson of the Electoral Commission addressed MPs on their state of preparedness for the 2020 polls.
“With all intents and purposes, he is no longer a member of the party. He has pronounced himself publicly as an independent and has filed his papers to compete against the party in his official candidate as an independent on 7th December 2020. Having forfeited the membership of the party on whose ticket he was elected, to parliament, the operative language of the constitution is that, he shall – which is mandatory – vacate his seat in Parliamentâ€, he said on Saturday.
Andrew Amoako Asiamah withdrew from the NPP’s primaries citing machinations to get him out.
President Akufo-Addo has already said he cannot understand why the MP has refused to withdraw his independent bid after several attempts by the party leadership to stop him.
Andrew Amoako Asiamah lost in the party’s primaries held in June 2020. Being unhappy with the turnout of the election, he filed as an independent candidate in the December polls.