Following the death of the Member of Parliament Kumawu, Philip Atta Basoah the Speaker of Parliament, Alban M Kingsford Sumana Bagbin on Friday (31 March) declared the Kumawu seat vacant.

Speaker Bagbin in a communication to the Electoral Commission (EC) on Friday, March 31, 2023, directed the electoral management body to hold a bye-election for a replacement of the deceased MP.

Article 112 (5) of the 1992 constitution states that “whenever a vacancy occurs in Parliament, the Clerk to Parliament shall notify the Electoral Commission in writing within seven days after the vacancy occurred, and a by-election shall be held within thirty days after the vacancy occurred”.

About Basoah

Philip Basoah was born on 18 November 1969. He hailed from Kumawu in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

He held a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana (2000) and also earned a Master’s degree from the Paris Graduate School of Management in 2012.

He earned a medical laboratory scientist’s certificate in 1986, followed by GCE O’ levels in 1991 and A’ levels in 1994.

The late Philip Basoah was the project coordinator for the Ghana Education Service in the Ashanti Region. He also served as the district chief executive for Sekyere East between June 2005 and January 2009, under the aegis of the Ministry of Local Government.

He was previously a tutor at Agogo Senior High School, also in the Ashanti Region.

Political career

Philip Basoah was a lifelong member of the NPP.

In the 2016 Ghana general election, he won the Kumawu seat with 21,794 votes (or 78.2% of the total votes cast), against the NDC parliamentary aspirant, Emmanuel William Amoako, who secured 5,899 votes (21.2% of the total vote).

The aspirant running on the ticket of the Convention People’s Party, Opoku Kyei Clifford, won 188 votes, or 0.7% of the vote.

In 2020, Basoah retained the seat with 14,960 votes (51.1% of the total votes cast). The candidate for the NDC, Bernard Opoku Marfo, secured 2,439 votes.