Will NPP cater for Ophelia Hayford should she lose? - Prof. Gyampo queries

He said this is due to the fact that the Mfantseman seat is not a stronghold of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Mrs. Ophelia Hayford, wife of the slain MP Ekow Hayford has been selected as the parliamentary candidate of the NPP.

“The widow is being made to sacrifice her job as Police Officer, for a non-Ketu-South-like seat, that she can easily win in 2020 because of sympathy, but cannot be guaranteed victory beyond the victory. Will the party take care of her and the children when she loses her seat and no longer has a job with the Police Service?” he quizzed.

“It must be noted that the Mfantseman seat, though a swinging one, has since 1992, favoured the NDC 80 percent more, than the NPP. Indeed, from 1992 to date, the NPP has only done “two one terms” in the constituency, ie, Asamoah Boateng’s one term of 2004-2008 and Hayford’s one term of 2016-2020."

"The rest of the years were enjoyed by the NDC and in my own prediction, based on the voting trends in the constituency, 2020 was going to be an election for the NDC, at least, for the Parliamentary race.”

Describing the replacement of a deceased person by a close relative in parliament as a dangerous one, Mr Gyampo said the act could also undermine the country’s democracy.

“Finally, we must be in the know that, the practice of asking widows to replace their dead husbands in parliament, may be dangerous and soon undermine quality representation, particularly, if the only driving force to push a certain segment of the citizenry to parliament, is the loss of their spouse,” he added.