Justin Frimpong Koduah beats John Boadu to win General Secretary
Kennedy Agyapong descends on Chairman Wontumi
When politicians lose major elections, there is usually a lot of buzz that surrounds them, but when those leaders receive overwhelming endorsements from other equally respectable persons, yet lose, that makes bigger headlines.
John Boadu, the immediate outgone General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has a story that fits the above narrative quite perfectly.
Having been elected twice to the high office of the ruling political party, John Boadu’s third attempt at the position was not one that was generally seen not to be possible for many reasons.
One of such reasons was that he received overwhelming endorsements from leading members of the party, including one from a veteran pollster, Ben Ephson.
Only a few days to the polls, leading member of the party, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, whose clout in the NPP is unquestionable, also gave indications that John Boadu would retain his seat.
Becoming clearer and clearer the support base he had within the top echelons of the party, it was no surprise when a video emerged of the Chairman of the Ashanti Region NPP, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, emerged of his endorsement too.
In the said video that has since gone viral, Chairman Wontumi is seen whipping up support from all the other 15 regional chairmen of the party, across all the regions of the country, to declare their support for the defeated John Boadu.
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“The number one sign that we are showing (with our fingers) shows that we are putting all our supports behind John Boadu because he has done it before. The 2024 elections that is ahead of us is not something we want to leave in the hands of an inexperienced person. We need someone who has done it before.
“Because of that, we are putting all our prayers and support behind John Boadu who is at Number One,” Chairman Wontumi said in the video, surrounded by the other 15 chairmen while chanting a song in support.
None of these however went in the favour of the defeated General Secretary and this is something the Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, has said is an embarrassment to all the party leaders who participated in this campaign.
“My brother Wontumi should cool down. He should cool down [because] he doesn’t own this party. He doesn’t at all. He has to cool down.
"Whipping all [regional] chairmen to raise their hands reluctantly. All of them have been embarrassed. If it had been anywhere, all the chairmen would resign,” he said in an interview attributed to TV3.
Meanwhile, Justin Frimpong Koduah has won the General Secretary position of the governing NPP.
The legal practitioner polled 2,857 votes to beat John Boadu, who obtained 2,524 votes out of the total 5,556 votes cast.
The results of the other candidates were as follows: Iddrisu Musah - 104 votes, Ramseyer Ahmed – 8 votes, Charles Bissue – 12 votes, and Frederick Ansah – 50 votes.
Justin Frimpong Kodua will serve as the General Secretary of the party for the next four years.
JFK is the former Deputy Regional Youth Organiser in 2010 and a member of the NPP Ashanti Regional campaign team in 2008.
He also served as a member of the National Youth Wing of the party as a Chairman of the Legal Committee of the youth wing.
EA/BOG
