Koforidua, March 19, GNA - Four people, including incumbent Member of Parliament Yaw Barimah have declared their interest in contesting the New Juaben South constituency primaries on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)

The others are Madam Beatrice Bernice Boateng, educationist, Mr Augustus Amponsem, a business executive, and Mr Martin Oteng Adu, telecommunication specialist. They are all natives of Koforidua. Madam Boateng is the greater Accra regional manager of the Presbyterian schools who contested the 2004 NPP primaries and lost to Mr Barimah.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Koforidua, She said she stood a brighter chance of winning this time round, adding that she had remained committed to the Party since 1992. She debunked allegations that she had gone to retrieve items she had donated to the Party after she lost the primaries in 2004. Madam Boateng assured that she would continue to remain committed to the Party and would serve no matter the outcome of the primaries, because she believes in the ideologies of the NPP. Mr Amponsem is the grandson of the late Nana Kwaku Boateng I, former Omanhene of the new Juaben traditional area. He touts his credentials as someone with all the qualities to represent the constituency in Parliament and urged the potential voters at the primaries to give him the mandate to lead them to victory in December.

He refuted allegations that he was new in the Party and that he had not contributed to its development, saying over the years he had contributed in diverse ways. Mr Duodu said he was a founding member of the NPP and that even though the other contestants were capable of leading the Party, he stood tall among them and asked the party men to vote for him. He said he had contributed immensely to support party activities in the area, citing computers he donated to the constituency. Mr Barimah became Member of Parliament in 1996 and again won the seat as sole candidate for the party in 2000 without a primary. He defeated Madam Boateng four years later in a highly contested primary in 2004.

Mr Barimah, a lawyer, was appointed Deputy Majority Chief Whip in parliament in 2001.

He was also appointed Deputy Interior Minister, Minister for Manpower Youth and Employment, Minister for Works and Housing and Eastern Regional Minister until the latest ministerial reshuffle, which took him to the Office of the President as Minister of State.