Paa Kwesi Nduom - Politics

Politics

District Assembly

His active role in politics began in 1997 when he was elected as a member of the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem District Assembly for the Akotobinsin Electoral Area.

National politics

In December 2000, he unsuccessfully contested the Ghanaian parliamentary elections for the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem constituency on the ticket of the Convention People's Party (CPP). He lost to the incumbent MP, Ato Quarshie of the National Democratic Congress by a margin of 2.6% of the valid votes cast. Two months later however, he was appointed by President John Kufuor as the Minister for Energy although he was not a member of the ruling New Patriotic Party. He also served during this period as the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission. During a cabinet reshuffle in April 2003, Nduom became the Minister for Energy. 18 months later, he again contested the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem seat in the Ghanaian parliamentary election in December 2004 and this time round, he won with a majority of 15,554 (33.6%). At the time, he served as the chairman of the Organising Committee of the CPP. Early in President Kufuor's second term of office, Nduom became the Minister for Public Sector Reform. He continued in this capacity till July 2007 when he resigned from government to seek his party's nomination to stand as the CPP presidential candidate.

Bid for president

In December 2007, Nduom was nominated by the CPP to contest the December 2008 presidential election. Nduom lost the elections, getting less than 1% of the vote. During the CPP party elections of 2011, Candidates reportedly supported by Paa Kwesi Nduom including then Chairman Ladi Nylander lost to newer candidates including Samia Nkrumah daughter of Ghana first president Kwame Nkrumah Months later Paa Kwesi Nduom was accused by the Convention People's Party of going against the party's regulations. Paa Kwesi Nduom subsequently issued statements, first asking his supporters to stop working against the party, then later issued a statement which though did not talk of a breakaway, to all intents and purposes appeared to do so. In January 2012, Paa Kwesi Nduom formed his own party to contest the 2012 elections, the Progressive People's Party. The CPP subsequently threw him out

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