Incumbent MP Joe Baidoe-Ansah loses

The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP), incumbent Member of Parliament for the Kwesmintim constituency in the Western Region, Joe Baidoe-Ansah, has lost his bid to contest in the December polls.

Joe Baidoe-Ansah, who had 122 votes lost the contest to Joseph Mensah, who won with 187 votes.

The primary was suspended for months due to the incumbent’s decision to sue Joseph Mensah, claiming that he was not a party member.

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There were allegations that Joseph Mensah was once a cadre of the then PNDC regime after authoring a book which made mention of the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) regime, led by Jerry John Rawlings.

But, an Accra High Court last week ruled that Joseph Mensah, an employee of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority at Takoradi, was qualified to contest.

Joe Badoe-Ansah, had been the MP for Kwesimintsim since 2000, after he took over the seat from the CPP’s Nana Abekah in 1996.

The NPP’s Joseph Mensah, who won the Kwesimintsim polls will come against the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC), Augustine Arthur.

The difference in votes between the NPP and the NDC in the 2012 elections was about 6,000, with Nana Abekah, a CPP man who went independent polling 6,000 votes. The PPP candidate polled a little over 1,000 votes.