Bantama Asenso Boakye sets constituency agog

A mammoth crowd of party faithful from far and near thronged the Bantama Constituency in Kumasi last weekend to participate in what was described as the Bantama Big Walk, organised by the constituency executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Brimming with confidence of winning this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections, the participants sang and danced to various songs composed for the party, as they walked from the Kumasi Girls Senior High School at Abrepo through Bohyen and Ampabame, and finally ended at the Centre for National Culture.

The converging point went ecstatic with a myriad of addresses from parliamentary candidates, party executives and ministers of state. Ace musician Barima Sydney electrified the event ground when he came on stage to perform.

Addressing party faithful later, Mr. Francis Asenso Boakye, the parliamentary candidate, explained that he was born and bred in Bantama and went to the university, after which he  furthered his education in the United States of America .

Whilst in America, Asenso-Boakye revealed that he worked at the parliament of Michigan, where he had the intuition to serve his constituency in future when he finds himself in Ghana.

“So whilst working there, I told myself that If God permits and I return to Ghana, I would also like to go to [the] Ghanaian Parliament and serve the Bantama Constituency. I started in 2008 and 2012, but failed. By the Grace of God, the Bantama NPP Constituency elected me to be their parliamentary candidate for the party in this 2020 elections,” he said.

He expressed appreciation to the delegates of Bantama NPP for choosing him as their parliamentary candidate, noting that since 1992, Bantama has been a stronghold of the NPP, and in 2016 general elections, the Bantama Constituency gave 88% of the votes to the NPP.

Asenso Boakye, who is fast mastering the art of public speaking, argued that when the NPP had 88% from Bantama, social interventions like Planting for Foods and Jobs, Free Education, Nation Builders Corps (NABCO), newly-tarred roads in the Ashanti Region and Bantama were not in place.

Acknowledging assertions from the Minister for Trade and Industry that the Bantama walk is the biggest walk in 2020, the parliamentary candidate said: “This is the biggest walk in the 2020 elections; this is Bantama, we do our things big.”

Mr. Asenso Boakye also told the huge crowd that the hugely successful walk was meant to send a word to former president John Dramani Mahama that they were retiring him, come December 7, this year.

He noted that the Akufo-Addo administration had brought jobs through NABCO to the youth of Bantama.

The Deputy Chief of Staff at the Presidency disclosed that he had worked with Nana Akufo-Addo for over ten years, and that he was truthful and thoughtful about every statement that he makes, hence, his ability to honour the promises he made to Ghanaians.

Touting Akufo-Addo as a true leader and a consistent one, he bemoaned that the same attributes cannot be said about former President John Mahama.

Mr. Bernard Antwi-Bosiako, Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, expressed optimism that Asenso Boakye would win the parliamentary seat for the NPP.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Simon Osei-Mensah, appealed to Ghanaians to vote for the NPP.

Sammy Awuku, who is the National Organiser of the NPP, tasked the youth to campaign in every place they find themselves for victory of the NPP, and celebrate the victory later. According to him, it was better to suffer now and enjoy later, than to enjoy now and suffer later.

Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister for Information, on his part, said Asenso-Boakye had helped people when the NPP came to power, and this is the reason people had come to support him.

According to the NPP parliamentary candidate for Ofoase Ayirebi, former President Kufuor laid the foundation waiting for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to continue with the Free SHS policy, but misunderstandings within the NPP stalled Free SHS for eight years, when they lost the polls.

He continued that today, Akufo-Addo had done a yeoman’s job and Ghanaians have to vote and keep him in power for Ghana to develop.  “We will plead with you that this elections is not about NPP and Nana Addo, it is about everyone, so when voting time is due, we do not want 88% in Bantama, but 95% to help Nana Addo get another four more years.”

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, said Bantama should not have been an area for the NPP to campaign for votes.

He urged the NPP to campaign vigorously and protect their strongholds, stressing that failure to do this would cost the party.

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