Former MP Kofi Jumah fined GH¢1200 for destroying electoral material

Kofi Jumah was arrested in June 2015/Photo: myjoyonline.com

A Kumasi Circuit Court has found former Asokwa MP, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, guilty of causing unlawful damage to electoral material.

The court presided over by Afua Adu-Amankwa, on Monday, sentenced Kofi Jumah to a fine of GH¢1200 or in default, spend six months in prison.

In a two-horse race between the sitting MP Patricia Appiagyei and the former occupant of the seat, Kofi Jumah disrupted the process after he suspected some wrongdoing during the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) parliamentary primaries held Saturday, June 13, 2015.

Kofi Jumah had accused the Electoral Commission (EC) and some party executives for doctoring the voters register to favour the incumbent MP with whom he has a long-standing rivalry.

 “He took the album from the EC officials, torn it into pieces and threw the pieces on the floor,” the Asokwa Communications officer Edmund Kyei told Joy News.

The former Mayor was handcuffed and whisked away by the police. Patricia Appiagyei eventually won after she polled 326 votes against his 158 votes.

Two days later, Kofi Jumah was charged with causing unlawful damage to electoral materials that is a photo album belonging to the Electoral Commission. His campaign manager Oscar was also charged with resisting lawful arrest.

They were both granted bail in the sum of GH¢10,000 each with a surety.

More than a year after the incident, the one-time Deputy Minister of Local Government and mayor of the Kumasi was convicted Monday along with his campaign manager, Oscar Riches.