December 7 election, who will carry Tema, environs

A GNA Political Analysis by Laudia Sawer
Tema, Dec 5, GNA - With just two days to the December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections, political parties and their agents are sitting on tentacles waiting and counting every hour, minute and second to the day of reckoning.

Constituencies in the Tema Metropolis and its environs generally had peaceful campaign activities, which saw party executives, parliamentary candidates, chief executives of metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies, party activists and even presidential candidates crisscrossing the constituencies to sell their messages to the electorates.

While some adopted the house to house style, others took their campaigns to the street and the beaches where they shared flyers to revellers and passersby, others also carried billboards with inscriptions to inspire people to vote for their favourite candidates.

Large rallies, weekly football matches and keep-fit health walks also featured greatly in this year's campaigning with fanciful party slogans, and colourful paraphernalia.

After all the funfair, the critical question to ask is who will carry the day after the counting and collation had been done, will the New Patriotic Party (NPP) retain all its three seats in Tema, or would the National Democratic Congress (NDC) pull a surprise on them?

The three constituencies; Tema East, Central and West had been a traditional stronghold for the NPP while Kpone-Katamanso, Ningo-Prampram and Ashaiman always fall for the NDC. The other political parties participating in the elections were yet to write their names in the winning list of the six constituencies.

TEMA EAST
In this year's election, four candidates namely Robert Kempes Papa Nii Ofosuware of the NDC, Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover from the NPP and the Convention Peopl's Party (CPP) Richard Larweh Mensah and an independent candidate Theophilus Nii Ankamah Densu-Tetteh are contending for the Tema East seat.

In 2012, the incumbent Titus-Glover won the election with 30,075 votes, three votes more than the 30,072 garnered by Mr Ofosuware, who was then the MCE.

Mr Ofosuware is currently riding on his past records as an MCE when he was nicknamed 'Mr Asphalt' for asphalting almost all the roads in the Tema business area. In addition, the current MCE, Mr Isaac Ashai Odamtten has provided a lot of infrastructural projects including schools, market structures and health posts among others in the Tema Newtown areas which has the majority of the electorates in the constituency.

It is however unclear who could easily win the seat since the incumbent MP Titus-Glover is also doing all he could to retain the seat. The competition between the two is fierce and therefore any of the two could easily carry the day. They have committed supporters but are yet to commit a blunder that would tip the scales.

TEMA WEST
The situation in Tema West is a little different as the incumbent MP Madam Irene Torshie Addo of the NPP who gained 39,950 and her close contender Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo from the NDC side are not in the race.

They have given way to Mr Carlos Ahenkorah and Lawyer James Enu for the NPP and NDC respectively. While Mr Ahenkorah went through a lot of hurdles to take up the mantle from the current MP, Lawyer Enu shifted camp from contesting the Tema Central seat as he did in 2012 to Tema West.

Even though his predecessor was able to close the huge gap which existed between the NDC and the NPP with a 39,005 votes as compared to the 39,950 Madam Addo won with, it is unlikely for Lawyer Enu to easily win the election come December 7.

Despite the likelihood of him getting some votes from the aggrieved supporters of the MP who are still not happy with Mr Ahenkorah and intend to vote 'skirt and blouse', The NDC candidate Lawyer Enu will not be able to carry day because it he relatively new to the majority of the communities in the constituency which well developed in terms of infrastructure so would be looking at ideology and jobs.

Enu's personal record in the provision of jobs is not well known as Carlos, who as an agent and freight forwarder can relate to most of the resdients.

Again, those NPP supporters who voted for Mr Ofosu-Ampofo in the 2012 election because they were fed-up with their MP are expected to vote for their candidate who is very popular in the constituency.

TEMA CENTRAL
The incumbent MP for the Tema Central, Mr Kofi Brako has no cause to worry as his closest contender Miss Ebi Bright of the NDC does not have what it will take to snatch the seat from him.

The strength of Mr Brako's popularity was evident in the 2012 election when he polled 26,948 of the votes leaving his NDC contender with only 4,366. This popularity was what scared Lawyer Enu to go back to contest in his home constituency.

The incumbent MP's popularity has gain ground over the past four years as he has embarked on some developmental projects in the constituency including building of a shed for the maternity unit of the Tema General Hospital. He is also known for paying of needy people's school fees and settling medical bills for the poor.

It is interesting to note that during the NDC's parliamentary primaries, nobody picked and file nomination to contest the seat. Miss Ebi Bright who earlier has expressed her intentions to contest the seat on the ticket of the Convention People's Party (CPP) quickly switched camp to contest for the NDC.

The well articulate model and actress have done her best to attract the attention of the electorates but that would not be enough to guarantee her a win.

KPONE KATAMANSO
At the Kpone-Katamanso constituency, apart from the independent candidate, Madam Pearl Akua Agyemang, the others; the incumbent Mr Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo of the NDC, Mr Solomon Tettey Appiah of the NPP, and Mr Stanley Kwesi Klemm from the Progressive People's Party (PPP) all contested the 2012 elections.

Mr Afotey-Agbo, who received 57.25 per cent of the votes to retain the seat leaving Mr Appiah with 40.88 per cent, is expected to retain the seat again but this time with a smaller margin.

This is so because some electorates of Kpone have been calling for a vote for a native, which Mr Appiah is and the incumbent MP is not. Mr Afotey-Agbo, who is a native of Nungua is likely to get most of his vote from the Nungua villages such as Katamanso, Saduase, Nanoman, Oyibi, Santeo, Kubekro.

Residents of Michell Camp, Bediako and Saki and its environs may be the deciding electorates, as non-natives mostly reside in those areas, and a number of them have transferred their votes to the area.

The incumbent MP could win those areas as he has done a lot of work there especially the construction of roads in the communities.

It is worthy to note that rumours are rife within the constituency that some NDC party members who want the MP off the seat are secretly funding some activities of Mr Appiah. That notwithstanding, the NPP candidate has accused Mr Afotey-Agbo of financing the independent candidate who contested him in the primaries to take away some of his votes come December 7.

ASHAIMAN
The Ashaiman constituency has five candidates competing for the seat but the race is definitely between the NDC Ernest Norgbey who have targeted at least 80 per cent of the vote and Alhaji Labaran Yakubu Barry, the NPP candidate who wants to win with 65 per cent.

Mr Norgbey replaces the Deputy Majority Leader, Lawyer Alfred Agbesi, who lost the primaries, while Alhaji Barry takes over from Mr Seji Saji Amedonu who contested on the ticket of the NPP in 2012.

The NDC is expected to retain the seat as some NPP sympathizers in the constituency are prepared to vote for Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo for the presidential and Mr Norgbey for the parliamentary.

If the size of crowd attending rallies is anything to go by, then the NDC candidate has the greatest crowed in the constituency as a large number of people pour out to the street weekly to participate in a health walk organized by his team.

NINGO-PRAMPRAM
Three of the five candidates contesting the Ningo-Prampram seat participated in the 2012 elections. They are the NPP's Sylvester Tetteh, CPP's Frederick Marmah Martey and Casmire Nii Okine Mensah of the PPP. The New entrants are Samuel Nartey George of the NDC and Richard A. Nartey of the All People's Congress (APC).

The contest of the constituency can be termed the battle of the Ningos as both the NPP and NDC candidates hail from Great Ningo.

Residents of Ningo in 2012 voted massively for Mr Tetteh as they were determined to end the tenure of MP Mr Enoch Teye Mensah who they accused of developing his hometown Prampram at the expense of Ningo.

Mr Sam George went through a lot of challenges to end his uncle's ambition to contest the election for the sixth time. Most cartoonists portrayed it as the David and Goliath fight and E.T.'s loyalists was it a betrayal. This has angered Mr E.T. Mensah to the extent that he has refused to accept an apology from the candidate and has declined to campaign for him.

With the current situation, Mr Sam George is likely to lose some of the NDC votes from Prampram as the aggrieved supporters of the MP have vowed to vote 'skirt and blouse' to punish him.

This may not necessarily affect his winning as there are some NDC members in Ningo who voted for the NPP candidate just because they wanted one of their own to represent them. Such persons are still around would definitely vote for the young man.

Even though the NPP's Mr Tetteh has an added advantage over Mr Sam George as he had enough time to market himself in the area from the 2008 elections. That notwithstanding, it is not clear who will win, but one thing is known for sure that by midnight December 7, one of them would be declared the MP-elect at the Ningo Police station collation centre to bring to an end the 24-year reign of Mr E.T. Mensah, the name which is synonymous with Ningo Prampram.

GNA