Bernard Owiredu Donkor joins Akwatia NPP parliamentary race

Private legal practitioner and New Patriotic Party Communications Team member, Bernard Owiredu Donkor, has declared his intention to contest the party’s parliamentary primaries in the Akwatia Constituency ahead of the 2028 general elections.

Owiredu Donkor, a native of Akwatia, announced his decision in an interview on the sidelines of the party’s Thanksgiving Service and Mini Conference/Rally held in the constituency on Sunday, November 1, 2026.

He said the NPP needed to present a candidate capable of reclaiming the seat from the opposition National Democratic Congress, insisting that the party could no longer afford to experiment with its choice of parliamentary candidate.

“I have already confirmed my interest. When you look at the 2028 election that we are going into, we are not going to experiment. We experimented in the by-election but that did not work. Now we need a candidate who will capture the seat for us and become our representative in Parliament,” he said.

Owiredu Donkor further disclosed that he intended to register his interest through the NPP’s online expression-of-interest portal, which opened on November 1, 2026, for prospective parliamentary candidates.

The party has set November 10, 2026, as the deadline for interested aspirants to submit their expressions of interest as part of preparations for its parliamentary primaries ahead of the 2028 elections.

He recalled supporting the NPP’s candidate, Solomon Kwame Asumadu, during the 2025 Akwatia parliamentary by-election but said the party needed a candidate who could win back the constituency.

The Akwatia seat became vacant following the death of its NPP Member of Parliament, Ernest Yaw Kumi, in July 2025. At the subsequent by-election on September 2, 2025, the NDC’s Bernard Bediako Baidoo defeated the NPP’s Solomon Kwame Asumadu to capture the seat. Bediako polled 18,199 votes against Asumadu’s 15,235 to secure the constituency for the NDC.

Owiredu Donkor also made a reference to seniority at the Bar, suggesting that Bediako, whom he described as his junior colleague in the legal profession, should cede the seat to him in the 2028 contest. He said the two could then work towards advancing the development of Akwatia.