Energy Minister, John Peter Amewu annex Hohoe parliamentary seat from NDC

The Energy Minister, John Peter Amewu, has beat off stiff competition from the National Democratic Congress’ Prof Margaret Kwaku to annex the Hohoe parliamentary seat from the NDC.

He polled 26,952 votes representing 54.7% of total votes at the close of Monday’s parliamentary elections while his close contender Prof. Margaret Kwaku from the NDC garnered 21,821 votes.

Significantly, this represents a historic feat in the 4th Republic of Ghana where the governing NPP managed to win a parliamentary seat in the Volta Region, the NDC’s stronghold.

This means that Mr. Amewu would be the only NPP MP as the NDC maintained the rest of the 17 seats in the region.

The NPP also made strides in the presidential elections as President Akufo-Addo polled 14,389 votes against 6,869 votes in 2016.

The NDC’s candidate John Dramani Mahama polled 33,542 votes representing a slight drop from the 35,117 votes he polled in 2016.

Speaking to the media after he was declared the winner of the Hohoe parliamentary elections, Mr. Amewu extolled President Akufo-Addo for the advisory and guidance role he played in the run-up to the general elections.

“What did the magic for Hohoe is the advice from His Excellency Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, that be focused in everything you do. Be focus. He said this several times and in several meetings that we had together with other Ministers. His words were be focused, be your peace.”

“It simply means that when there is a need to be at logger heads with your friends, you must learn how to resolve those issues quickly. So these were the two things that did the trick for me,” he stressed.

Mr. Amweu reiterated his commitment to human development within his first term in parliament by empowering women and tackling youth unemployment in the constituency.

“As for infrastructure development, I think we have done a lot for Hohoe, so we are going to concentrate on human development in our next four years,” he concluded.

Mr. Amewu served as the Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive under the Kufuor administration between 2001 and 2009.

His sterling performance as the NPP Regional Chairman between 2014 and 2017, led to the elephant fraternity gaining grounds in the Volta Region.

President Akufo-Addo appointed him as the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources in June 2017 and later directed him to head the Energy Ministry in August 2020.

Mr. Amewu, a native of Wli Todzi obtained an MBA in Finance from the University of Ghana, Legon.

He holds a Post Graduate Degree in International Energy Industry Management and a Master’s in Petroleum Law and Policy from the University of Dundee in the United Kingdom.