LAWYER JUSTIN Frimpong Kodua, the General Secretary for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has expressed sadness about the passing of the late Member of Parliament for Kumawu, Mr Philip Basoah.

Speaking to this reporter moments after visiting the family house of the late MP to commiserate with the mother and other family members in Kumawu, Lawyer Kodua said the NPP has lost a workaholic, determined and unrepentant patriot in Hon Basoah.

 

 

He recalled that he saw the late MP when the NPP majority group in Parliament was able to convince their colleagues in the Minority to vote and confirm the nomination of both the six Minister designates and deputy as well as two Supreme Court justices.

‘’I saw my elder brother Basoah in Parliament on the day we got the approval for both the minister designates as well as the two supreme court justices and nothing showed he was unwell. It was until Monday evening when I called him to realize he was in a bad condition and for me in particular I have lost a big brother and on the side of the NPP we have lost a workaholic and a true patriot’’, Lawyer Kodua expressed.

Call on the Youth:

The General Secretary rallied the youth to allow the party to handle issues that were coming out from the constituency.

He noted that the party would be guided by investigations into some of the issues raised regarding the happenings in the area until the death of Philip Basoah.

By Election and Plans By Party: 

The General Secretary said the NPP was ready to fulfill the requirements by the Constitution once there is death and a vacancy officially declared by Parliament on the status of the Kumawu constituency.

The party, Lawyer Kodua stated, would use the laid down regulations to select its parliamentary candidate and field the same to contest in the by-election to be conducted within 60 days from the day the Speaker of Parliament declared the Kumawu seat vacant.

He observed the party would be looking to give their late MP a good burial and funeral while planning with a strategy to retain the seat in memory of the late Philip Basoah.

‘’Ours is a democratic political party and our interest to use laid down procedures is unquestionable and so while grieving, the party is also looking forward to conducting an internal election to select one person who can represent it as candidate for the upcoming by-election’’, the General Secretary stated.

Strategy:

The General Secretary said the party has a good strategy that would help it field a candidate that would retain the Kumawu seat for the NPP.

Answering a question that the person who wins would have a short time in Parliament, Lawyer Kodua noted that the elected person would have at most a year and 8 months to spend in Parliament until the next primaries and general elections in 2024.

‘’For us in the NPP we build our case one step at a time and when we are able to retain the Kumawu seat in the upcoming by-election we would determine our next move guided by the provisions in our constitution’’, the General Secretary posited.

Story By Michael Ofosu-Afriyie,

Kumasi