No by-election in Mfantseman – Speaker

Speaker of Parliament Prof Aaron Mike Oquaye has said there shall be no by-election in the Mfantseman constituency following the death of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Member of Parliament and parliamentary candidate for the upcoming December polls, Ekow Hayford.

This follows speculations that a by-election would have to be conducted to find a replacement for the deceased candidate ahead of the polls.

Addressing Parliament on Wednesday, 14 October 2020, however, the Speaker urged the media and the general public to take note of the provisions of the law on such matters, accordingly.

The Constitution, in Article 112(5), makes provision for the conduct of a by-election, to which the Speaker of Parliament noted that, the current situation does not require for the conduct of a by-election in the Mfantseman Constituency.

“Article 112 (5) speaks about by-election in such circumstances to have been held within 30 days after the vacancy occurred.

“It is qualified by subsection 6, which reads in very simple, plain and clear language: ‘Notwithstanding clause 5 of this article, a by-election shall not be held within 3 months before the holding of a general election’, and, of course, a simple calculation tells that we are not within the 3 months since this incident occurred, therefore, there can be no by-election by mere calculation.”

Meanwhile, the First Vice-Chair of the NPP in the Mfantseman Constituency, Yaw Berchie Nuako, has disclosed that a replacement for the deceased MP will be announced on Thursday, 15 October 2020.

The MP for Mfantseman was shot dead by armed robbers on the Abeadze Dominase-Abeadze Duadzi-Mankessim road.

The incident happened on the dawn of Friday, 9 October 2020.

The late MP was returning from a campaign trip at Dominase to his residence at Mankessim.

Prior to going to Parliament, he was the Manager in charge of Parts Administration at Mantrac Ghana Limited (2010 to 2013).

He was also the CEO of Modisa Lodge (2012 to 2016).

Before that, he was a D/CPL with the Ghana Police Service (1993 to 1998).