The National Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, is confident the party will make a huge impact in the Ashanti region ahead of the 2024 general election.
According to him, the party’s intention in the Ashanti Region is to increase its votes.
Citing the the outcome of the Kumawu bye-election that saw the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) retaining the seat, Mr Gyamfi said it was a blessing for the party to have increased its votes by about 1, 200 compared to what it garnered in the 2020 general election.
This is in spite of the fact that ahead of the bye-election at Kumawu, the NDC sounded more hopeful that it could snatch the seat, with officials and followers banking their hopes on the failures of the incumbent government, and the economic hardship Ghanaians were facing.
The party even dispatched top members including MPs to serve as their polling agents to give the bye-election a close watch.
But speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Wednesday, Sammy Gyamfi noted that although the party did not win the ultimate at Kumawu, appreciating its votes was noteworthy.
“The outcome of the Kumawu bye-election was good for the NDC because the Ashanti Region is a very difficult terrain for the NDC. In some of the Ashanti constituencies, the NDC is strong there but to improve our numbers by more than 1,000 votes between 2020 and now, it’s significant,” he said.
Mr Gyamfi noted that the NDC has a lot more work to do to increase its votes in the region, admitting, however, that the NDC cannot win the Ashanti Region overall.
“It’s impossible, just like NPP cannot win the Volta Region, but we must appreciate our votes. If we have 30% votes in Ashanti Region we will win any election in Ghana.”
Asked whether he thought the NDC had become attractive enough to perform much better in the Ashanti Region, Mr Gyamfi said they will shock the NPP in its stronghold.
“Even Kumawu that is so hard for the NDC, we appreciated our votes. The NPP even shared money, constructed roads at night and all that, and yet we managed to increase our votes by more than 1,000 in an area where people can even insult you for wearing NDC-branded shirts. We have done well,” he stressed.