I’m Not Going Independent – Nii Armah Ashitey

Klottey Korle Member of Parliament, Nii Armah Ashitey, has no plans of contesting the seat as an independent candidate in the 2016 elections, his aide Nana Kwasi Abram Korankye has told Accra100.5FM.

Mr Ashitey lost the chance to seek re-election to the legislature on the ticket of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) after he was beaten in the November 2015 primary by Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, daughter of NDC founder and former President Jerry John Rawlings.

Dissatisfied with the results, Mr Ashitey resorted to court to challenge the eligibility of Dr Agyeman-Rawlings to have stood for the contest, arguing that she was not a registered voter at the time of the primaries. She subsequently registered as a voter during the Electoral Commission’s limited voter registration exercise in April 2015.

Dr Agyeman-Rawlings was cleared on Monday July 18 by the Supreme Court to hold herself out as the parliamentary nominee of her party in the forthcoming general elections.

The Supreme Court also directed the High Court to deliver a ruling in that regard since an individual can only be a candidate after the Electoral Commission (EC) has opened the opportunity for filing. The apex court, therefore, said since the EC was yet to take that action, the argument of Dr Rawlings not being eligible did not hold water.

With Mr Ashitey’s hopes to return to run for parliament now up in smoke, speculation has been rife that the former Greater Accra Regional Minister would quit his party and go independent to reclaim the seat.

But scotching such rumours on Ghana Yensom, Accra FM’s morning show, Tuesday July 19, Mr Korankye said Mr Ashitey was a blue-blooded member of the NDC, who will never desert the party or its principles. According to him, the Klottey Korle MP was only ensuring that the party abided by its own regulations.

He told host Chief Jerry Forson: “If Nii Armah Ashitey intended to contest as an independent candidate, he would not take this matter to court for resolution. All he would have done would be to print posters and go independent. But that is not the issue; he is an NDC man. He is one of the founders of this party. He has sacrificed so much for this party that he won’t do anything to tarnish the image of the party and he won’t stand aloof when the laws of the party are being swept under the carpet, hence his decision to take this action. It is not because he is bent on remaining in parliament”.

He said those spreading such “bad” rumours rather had an evil intention, daring them to show up and prove where Mr Ashitey declared his ambition to go independent.

Mr Korankye also asked journalists to help clear that misinformation.