Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr. Frank Amoakohene is claiming that the former longtime Member of Parliament for Asokwa, Kobina Tahir Hammond lost his reelection bid as a consequence of the lack of public toilets in his constituency.
Assessing the results of the December 7 polls, he said the issue had bothered residents so much that they consistently brought it up when politicians went over to campaign.
“KT Hammond, if he wants to know why he lost, it’s because of toilets,” he stated during an interview with GHOne TV’s Efua Tutuwaa Danso. “There is no community in his constituency that has public toilets and the constituents openly talked about it. When I went there to campaign, they came for the mic and they talked about it with passion.”
KT Hammond was amongst the New Patriotic Party bigwigs who lost their seats in a flurry of surprising results.
He polled 13,275 votes, while the victor on the National Democratic Congress parliamentary ticket, Gordwin Dorgbadzi got 14,229 votes, ending Mr. Hammond’s 24-year tenure in Parliament.
During the conversation, the minister insisted that the veteran lawmaker’s posture suggested a sense of detachment from the locals.
“He was out of touch with the people and that is a mistake we will not make,” he averred.
Dr. Amoakene, a medical doctor by training garnered a lot of attention during the campaign season due to his deployment of social media including Tiktok to win votes for the National Democratic Congress.
President John Mahama last month nominated him for Ashanti Regional Minister. Following his vetting and approval by Parliament, he was sworn into office by the president at the Jubilee House in Accra.
