Will Bantama primaries be an Akufo-Addo vs. Ken Agyapong showdown?

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) will hold parliamentary primaries in constituencies with sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) in February 2024.

Bantama is a constituency in the stronghold of the NPP, so any successful aspirant is as good as having won the 2024 elections.

The sitting MP, Francis Asenso-Boakye has announced that he will seek re-election after his first term expires.

He has received the blessing of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who has reportedly asked the people of the Bantama to retain his former deputy Chief of Staff as their lawmaker.

“It will hurt me so much if the people of Bantama throw him away. Give him the opportunity to represent you again and he will come and continue the good job he has been doing,” he urged.

Akufo-Addo said this at Bantama on Wednesday (November 15) during the commissioning of a library complex in the Bantama constituency named after him.

On the other hand, lawyer Ralph Agyapong, a brother of Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong has also announced that he will heed calls by supporters in Bantama to contest in the upcoming primaries.

In an interview on Okay FM weeks back, he intimated that he has the blessing of Ken to contest the seat.

Ken has a spat with Asenso-Boakye in the runup to the NPP presidential flagbearer race. The Bantama MP supported the bid of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia and had cause to reply some comments Ken made about him at a rally.

It is widely believed that Ken wants his brother to unseat Asenso-Boakye for his ungratefulness to him.

The contest is shaping out to be one of the juiciest in the primaries as it would indirectly pit the president’s choice against that of the grassroots president – a term Ken has been referred to in some quarters.

A showdown is imminent.