A defeated Parliamentary aspirant at the National Democratic Congress (NDC) elections at Bantama Constituency in Kumasi has stated that he will contest the parliamentary seat as an independent candidate in 2016.

Kofi Aracio, who sounded peeved, claimed he has been cheated by the party’s leadership during the NDC primary at Bantama.

He said Hon. Samuel Yaw Adusei, Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, was favoured by the party’s leadership to win the polls, hence his (Aracio) decision to contest the Bantama seat as an independent candidate.

“My supporters at Bantama who are angry over my defeat have urged me to run for the Bantama MP seat as independent candidate in 2016 and I have agreed to go”, he told Kofi Asante of Nhyira FM in Kumasi.

Aracio said if his decision to contest the Bantama seat as independent candidate means he is no longer an NDC member, so be it, stating that the decision is irreversible.

He said he had expended his resources to bring the NDC to its current status at Bantama since 1992 but he has not benefitted in any way from the party, therefore he is prepared to leave the ruling political party.

“I have sacrificed my money and time on the NDC but I am always discriminated against by our party leadership, I don’t even know why, so I want to leave the NDC now and have my peace”, the ex-NDC chairman stated.

He said what annoys him most is the way he is discriminated against by the party leadership anytime he wanted to contest a position in the party as if he was a stranger in the NDC.

He said he had realized that it is not wise for him to waste his resources on a political party who even doesn’t give him the due recognition, hence his decision to leave the party.

Aracio observed that the current NDC leadership is made up of corrupt people, noting that the manner in which he was cheated at the Bantama NDC polls was a clear indication that the NDC lacked upright people.