The Member of Parliament for Akwatia, Bernard Bediako Baidoo, has insisted that neither he nor his National Democratic Congress (NDC) party received an invitation to the final funeral rites of his late predecessor, Ernest Yaw Kumi, held on December 6, 2025.
Kumi, who represented Akwatia for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), passed away in July 2025, triggering a by-election in September that Baidoo won for the ruling NDC.
Speaking in an interview on Accra FM with host Kwabena Bobie Ansah, Baidoo confirmed he attended the event uninvited but emphasized the snub toward NDC representatives.
“I went,” Baidoo said when asked about his attendance.
Pressed on his feelings, he replied, “It’s a sad moment. Let me put it on record even yesterday we resolved that matter, but for the sake of records.”
He recounted that the family invited NDC members, including himself, National Chairman Sylvester Mensah, and others, for Kumi’s one-week or 40th-day observances during the by-election period.
“What transpired, we all know,” Baidoo noted, alleging no further invitations followed.
“I don’t know whether after the one week they held a meeting that they don’t want us in their funeral, so I can say on authority that they didn’t invite us,” he stated.
Baidoo listed those excluded: the party at large, the district chief executive, himself as MP, and regional and national executives.
To underline the point, he referenced attending the funeral of George Opare Addo’s mother at Awukugwa, where he shared a table with NPP figures Sammy Awuku and Henry Nana Boakye (Nana B). There, NDC National Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketia called him, upset about the unannounced attendance.
“I told him, ‘Yes, I went to the funeral but I was not invited,’” Baidoo recounted.
Baidoo stressed that he attended Kumi’s rites as a native of Akwatia and the occupant of the contested seat, despite party concerns over his security.
Again, he noted that an invitation to Parliament’s Majority Caucus listed him and fellow MP Hon. Joe Appiah, prompting his presence under police protection.
“Nothing untoward happened,” he added.
Source: www.Kumasimaial.com
