The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) 2024 parliamentary candidate for Ablekuma Central and former Presidential staffer, Jefferson Sackey, has revealed that he, along with other senior figures within the party, defied the party’s directive to stay away from the Ablekuma North parliamentary rerun to support Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie, the party’s candidate.
Despite the NPP’s official decision to withdraw from the rerun—describing the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to conduct fresh voting in 19 polling stations as “unjust”—Nana Akua Afriyie opted to participate in the election. Attempts by the party to halt the process through legal and administrative channels were unsuccessful.
In an interview with Channel One News’ Jude Duncan during the voting process on Friday, July 11, Sackey justified his decision to support Afriyie, citing personal and constituency-level bonds.
“Akua Afriyie, being my neighbour in the North, and going into this election, it is important that I come to support her morally and physically. And so, it is not in breach of a certain rule that the party has said. Aside party, there’s also that particular relationship, we are all doing our part.
He added, “She’s a sister, a mother and a figure in this particular constituency, and so, as a neighbour, it is important that when your sister is in such a crisis, you come in to support. And so, that is why I offered myself to be a party agent in the name of Hon. Akua Afriyie to protect her ballot and numbers so that at the end of the voting, a free and fair election will prevail.”
The parliamentary rerun was necessitated by a protracted electoral dispute following the December 7, 2024, general elections, during which results from 62 polling stations in Ablekuma North were contested.
Disagreements between the NPP and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) centered on the authenticity of pink sheets and issues with the collation process.
While the EC initially proceeded to collate results from 59 of the polling stations, it left three unresolved, leading to further legal proceedings. In January 2025, the High Court directed the EC to complete the collation and declare the results.
However, citing missing endorsements and procedural irregularities in 19 of the polling stations, the EC opted to hold a rerun in those areas to uphold electoral integrity and transparency. The exercise is expected to restore parliamentary representation to the constituency, which has remained without a Member of Parliament since December 2024.
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