Mr Antwi

The race for the Sunyani East Constituency parliamentary seat has become keener and hotter following the decision by Mr Ransford Antwi, an Independent Candidate to join the race for the December gener­al election.

Mr Antwi, a Sunyani based business­man and philanthropist, has pledged to challenge the longstanding dom­inance of the ruling New Patriotic Par­ty (NPP) candidate in the forthcoming general election.

It has traditionally been a strong­hold of the NPP since 1996, however, Mr Antwi seem undeterred by NPP’s strength, vowing to upset the ap­ple-cart.

His reason for that belief is simple – the NPP and their candidate have failed to meet the developmental needs of the people.

This, he believes is buttressed by the large army of the youth and some influential figures within the con­stituency and abroad throwing their weight behind his candidacy.

Mr Antwi in handshake with former president kuffour

Mr Antwi says his candidacy pro­vides hope and progress for the community.

And it appears his campaign is going on smoothly with a section of the youth, especially the first time voters in the constituency have bought into his ideas.

In separate conversations with a number of them at a campaign activ­ity, they made it clear to The Spec­tator in an interview that they were relishing a change because it appears they have been taken for granted for a long time.

Reputation

Mr Antwi with former president JJ Rawlings

Mr Antwi is a royal from Sunyani with a strong reputation for honesty and integrity. His connection with the youth and readiness to help in various community activities have earned him significant support from the elector­ate.

He remains very confident in win­ning the seat in December following a recent survey from Infoanalytic which identified him as the favoured candi­date among the others.

“My decision to contest for the Sunyani East parliamentary seat is to reverse the downwards spiral of developmental needs in the constit­uency.

My primary focus would be on de­velopment and job creation and equip a significant number of the youth with skills to enhance their employ­ability if am elected” he stated.

“When I declared my intention to contest, some people thought that I was just joking and that I would collect money from other contestants and abandon my dream, but I want to assure you that I am in it for the long haul.

Mr Antwi said he boast of a ‘solid’ team on the ground working hard to maintain the momentum and leave nothing to chance.

He expressed concern that the Sunyani East constituency and the broader Sunyani area have diminished in stature due to the absence of sub­stantial developmental initiatives.

The deteriorating condition of Sunyani’s roads characterised by pot­holes, the neglected regional library and absence of a sports stadium for the constituency would be my prior­ity.

“The youth needs someone to provide them with leadership, offer them employable skills, hence the plan to establish a youth develop­ment centre where majority of them would be trained.

There would also be a dedi­cated office to receive the people and hold regular Town Hall meet­ings to share ideas from the people to help push forward to con­stituency’s devel­opment agenda.

In all of these, financial support remain a biggest challenge faced by his campaign team because ev­erybody wants to wear his T-shirts and other para­phernalia.

“This comes as a huge cost,” he added.

Challenges

Coming into a contest like this also has a few chal­lenges which Mr Antwi is trying very hard to deal with.

“Some of the people think that I am a rich person because I am a business­man. Others also think that once I am contesting for the election, I have a lot of money to spend and they must come for their share.

But that, according to him, was cer­tainly not the case.

“I’m working within my means. I have some little donations I received from some people who believe in this course to pull through.

Business

Mr Antwi is the owner of Sun-city radio, one of the most popular radio stations in the region. He also owns a fleet of businesses.

Business aside, Mr Antwi is passion­ate about doing philanthropic work. Through his Sun-city outreach team, he has been able to liaise with some medical doctors to organised health screening for the aged to deal with health complications such as hernia, glaucoma and general health issues in the constituency and beyond.

As a football enthusiast and highly connected figure in football circles, the Sunyani East constituency par­liamentary aspirant said he used his influence to secure kit sponsorship for the senior national team in the past.

He was part of a team that hired the services of Ratomir Djokovic from Serbia who supervised Ghana’s qualification to its first World Cup in Germany in 2006.

He is a staunch supporter of BA United, Asante Kotoko and Manches­ter United of England.

Education

Mr Antwi completed the St Patrick’s Middle School in 1987 and continued to Twene Amanfo Senior Technical High/Sunyani Senior High for his A Level Certificate and completed in 1993.

He had his National Service with the Bono Regional Hospital before proceeding to the Institute of Man­agement Studies in Kumasi where he obtained a Diploma in Business Management.

He later worked with MTN Ghana before venturing into private busi­ness.

Family

He is the first born of children to the late Stephen Kwame Antwi and Madam Helena Dankwa.

Mr Antwi and his family at Manchester United stadium UK

Mr Antwi is married to Sufura Mo­hammed Suraj with whom they are blessed with four beautiful children – Emily Dankwa Antwi, Denise Antwi, Ransford Kofi Antwi and Zara Afia Kuruwaa Antwi.

His favourite meal is fufu with groundnut soup.

Mr & Mrs Antwi

Advice

He advised the youth to stay fo­cused as they work towards realising their dreams.

According to him, the future of this country rests in the arm of the youth so it was important for any govern­ment to formulate policies that would ensure their development.

Mr Antwi also encouraged the youth to shun acts that would plunge their various communities into chaos, espe­cially with elections approaching.

By Daniel Dzirasah, Sunyani