By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Barring any last-minute hitches, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), will go to the polls to elect presidential and parliamentary candidates to represent the party at the various constituencies across Ghana on Saturday, May 13, 2023.
One of the key constituencies which has attracted huge attention ahead of Saturday’s Parliamentary primaries is the Adentan constituency.
Young and vibrant engineer, Linda Awuni will be facing off with one of Ghana’s astute lawyers and former Gender Minister, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, and incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Mr. Mohammed Adamu Ramadan.
The Adentan constituency is nicknamed a “One Term Constituency” due to the frequent changes of its representative at Ghana’s lawmaking chamber since it was halved from the Ashiaman constituency in 2004.
The 2004 parliamentary election was won by the late Kwadwo Opare-Hammond of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) stock.
He represented the people of Adenta constituency of the Greater Accra Region in the 4th Parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana.
The late Opare-Hammond was retained by the NPP during their primaries to contest in the 2008 parliamentary elections but lost the ultimate to the NDC’s Kojo Adu Asare who served in the 5th Parliament.
The NDC during its parliamentary primaries in 2011 replaced the incumbent Mr. Adu Asare with Mr. Emmanuel Ashie Moore.
Mr. Ashie Moore who is the current Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the biggest opposition party in Ghana went all the way to retain the seat for the NDC against a well formidable NPP candidate Frances Awurabena Asiam.
Mr. Ashie Moore like his predecessors also managed to serve just one term under the 6th Parliament. He subsequently lost the party’s parliamentary primaries to Mr. Adamu Ramadan.
Mr. Adamu Ramadan who became the 2016 NDC parliamentarycandidate lost the elections to the NPP’s former Director of Communications, Mr. Yaw Buabeng Asamoah.
The Adentan NDC’s ‘king and queen makers’ for the first time retained their 2016 NDC parliamentary Candidate Mr. Adamu Ramadan to battle it out once again with the then-incumbent NPP MP, Mr. Buabeng Asamoah during the 2020 parliamentary elections.
The NDC’s Adamu Ramadan snatched the seat from Mr. Buabeng Asamoah in 2020. Thus making the immediate past NPP Director of Communications also a one-term MP, He served in the 7th Parliament and was the 4th MP the constituency had produced.
The question running through the minds of many political watchers is will the incumbent MP, Adamu Ramadan, be third time lucky to get the sole ticket of the party this time round looking at the personalities he is contending with.
The presence of the youthful Linda Assibi Awuni who seems to appeal to the youth and the coming back of a more experienced and formidable Nana Oye Bampoe who lost to Mr. Ramadan in previous contests has made the race keener than expected.
All three candidates are optimistic about winning the sole ticket to represent the Adentan NDC in the upcoming 2024 presidential and parliament elections.
Anxiety and apprehension are very high among supporters of both aspirants as the over 2774 delegates are ready to cast their votes come Saturday, 13, May 2023 to elect the party’s sole presidential and parliamentary candidates.
The big question is who is more likely to win the Adentan primary on Saturday. It’s only time that can tell.
On this note, I call for calm to rain before, during, and after the elections in Adentan and all the remaining 274 constituencies across Ghana so that Ghanaians and for that matter, the Adentan constituents can live in peace and harmony.
#May the best candidates win.
