Fortunes Of The NDC In The Wa Central Constituency

The Wa Central Constituency is one of Ghana’s two hundred and seventy-five constituencies with a representation in the Parliament of Ghana. The constituents elect a Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election, as required by law, to represent them for a period of four years. Until 2004, when the Electoral Commission of Ghana carved out the Wa West Constituency, the Wa West Constituency was part of the Wa Central Constituency.

Hon. Rashid Hassan Pelpuo became the Member of Parliament on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress – NDC, after winning the party’s primaries and the general elections on December 7, 2004. He thus became the first Member of Parliament for the current Wa Central Constituency and has held the fort for the NDC till date.

The 2004 Parliamentary Elections

Hon. Rashid Hassan Pelpuo became the candidate of the NDC for the 2004 Parliamentary Elections after winning the party’s primaries. The NDC was in opposition then. When the general election was held, candidate Rashid Pelpuo of the NDC won the parliamentary elections for the Wa Central Constituency with Twenty-One Thousand, Two Hundred and Seventy-Two (21,272) votes, representing Fifty-One point Three per cent (51.30%) of the total valid votes cast. His closest contender was candidate Mornah Anbataayela Bernard of the PNC, who had Twelve Thousand, Two Hundred and Eighty (12,280) votes, representing twenty-nine point six, one per cent (29.61%). It was the first time a different party’s candidate, other than the NPP, became a runner up in the parliamentary history of the Wa Central Constituency. Some factors led to that and students of political science and political history would be able to recall them.

One thing, however, stood tall. The NPP did not handle the-after-primaries-issues of their party well and that led to some of the loyalist of the party voting for the PNC candidate as against the party’s candidate in protest to what happened. Lawyer Clement Eledi, who had been contesting for the seat on the ticket of the NPP even when the constituency was larger, was snubbed and Mohammed Adama Kpegla, then assembly member for Busa Electoral Area, chosen as the party’s candidate. ELedi’s loyalist felt that he was unfairly treated and thus, did a protest voting known in the Ghanaian election parlance as skirt-and-blouse.

A total of six candidates contested for the seat during the 2004 election.

The 2008 Parliamentary Elections

With a united front and all-hands-deck going into the 2008 Election, emanating from the fact, that there was no parliamentary primaries because the incumbent went unopposed, Hon Rashid Pelpuo won the seat for the NDC again by Twenty-Five Thousand, Four Hundred and Twenty-Eight (25,428) votes, representing Fifty-Seven point Eight per cent (57.8%) of the total valid votes cast. Eledi Clement N. Lugri of the NPP had Seventeen Thousand, Three Hundred and Nine (17,309), also representing thirty-nine point three per cent (39.3%) of the votes, to become the closest contender. One can attribute the increase in the votes of Hon Rashid Pelpuo to a number of factors including the fact that there was no primaries in the constituency. The absence of the primaries meant that almost every member of the party was in high spirit for the election.

Five candidates vied to represent the constituency in the 2008 elections.

The 2012 Parliamentary Elections

The NDC won the 2008 Elections and came into government in 2009. Going into the 2012 Elections therefore, the grounds on which the party elders and leaders appealed to all to allow Hon. Rashid Hassan Pelpuo to go into the 2008 Elections unopposed could not be sustained. A primary for the party’s parliamentary candidate was held and Hon Rashid Hassan Pelpuo won the candidature yet again and led the NDC into the general elections.

He won the seat for the NDC again with Twenty-Eight Thousand, One Hundred and Forty-Nine (28,149) votes which represented Forty-Nine point three, one per cent (49.31%) with his closest contender, Tahiru Issahaku Moomin of the NPP getting Twenty-Two Thousand, Three Hundred and Four (22,304) votes with a percentile of thirty-nine point zero seven (39.07%). Tahiru Issahaku Moomin only managed to increase the fortunes of the NPP by a zero point two, three per cent (0.23%) from Eledi’s votes of 2008.

The emergence of PPP in the 2012 with Sohimwinye James K. as the parliamentary candidate is worth noting here. He drew most of his votes from the strongholds of the NDC. Clear examples in this regard are Zingu community, where he hails from and Sombo community. In total, James had Three Thousand, One Hundred and Seventy-Five (3,175) votes representing Five point Zero, Eight per cent (5.08%).

In 2012, six persons contested for the seat in the general elections.

The 2016 Parliamentary Elections

After two consecutive times in power, the 2016 general elections came. The NDC expanded the electoral college of the party for internal elections by including all card bearing members of the party. Four members of the party contested the party primaries with Hon Rashid Hassan Pelpuo and he was elected by the universal adult suffrage of the party as the candidate.

Hon. Rashid Hassan Pelpuo went on to win the main election which was, without doubt, a tough contest due some intra and inter party issues. With Twenty-Five Thousand, Three Hundred and Nineteen (25,319) votes representing Forty-Four point Five, Six per cent (44.56%), Hon Rashid Pelpuo won the seat marginally for the NDC again for the fourth consecutive time. For the second time, Tahiru Issahaku Moomin of NPP came closer with Twenty-four Thousand, Seven Hundred and Forty-Eight (24,748) votes which represented Forty-Three point Five, Six per cent (43.56%) of the total valid votes.

A study of the 2016 parliamentary results showed that unresolved party issues emanating from the party’s 2015 primaries greatly affected party’s fortunes. Some traditional NDC polling station did a protest voting – skirt-and-blouse – as was done by some aggrieved members of the NPP in 2004. The difference however between the NPP’s aggrieved voters in 2004 and the NDC aggrieved voters in 2016 is that, whereas the NPP protest voters voted for a minority party’s candidate that could not possibly win the elections, the NDC protest voters voted for the main contender, the NPP’s candidate who nearly took the seat.

The table below shows how some protest voters of the NDC voted in the 2016 general elections.

The cursory analysis of the above table showed that the NPP’s candidate gained a total of One Thousand, Two Hundred and Thirty-Three (1,233) votes from the NDC’s protest voters in only twelve polling stations.

Seven candidates wrestled for the seat in the 2016 parliamentary elections.

Going Into The 2020 Parliamentary Elections

The NDC party is preparing for the 2020 general elections. As a party in opposition, the party is leaving no stone unturned as they prepare to slug it out the ruling NPP. Haven elected the party’s flag-bearer in the person of H. E. John Dramani Mahama for obvious reasons which include experience and connection with the people, the party has commenced the process to elect their surest bets for the parliamentary elections.

A total of four party men have picked nomination forms and filed their nominations to vie for the candidature of the party in the coming elections, including the incumbent Member of Parliament, Hon. Dr Rashid Hassan Pelpuo.

The choice of the delegates to bear the parliamentary flag of the party in this crucial, non-gambling election in 2020 will speak volumes as to whether the party will retain the Wa Central Constituency seat or not.

The NDC is, most likely, going to win the Wa Central Constituency seat again if only party persons will eschew self-aggrandisement, pettiness and put party interest above all.

The “gains” of the NPP in the Wa Central Constituency

Leadership, membership, loyalists and followers of the NDC are concerned that the NPP is gaining electoral fortunes in the constituency and thus call for pragmatic actions to arrest that.

It is very obvious that the two main political parties in the country have made gains in the strong holds of each other and Wa Central Constituency is no exception. This is attributable to growth in population, track records of parties in government, level of political awareness and attitude of top party leaders towards lower-level grass-root politicians.

The unsuccessful quest to oust/succeed Hon. Rashid Hassan Pelpuo and unresolved internal party issues cannot be ruled out of the causes for the increase in fortunes of the NPP in the Wa Central Constituency. For instance, when Rashid Hassan Pelpuo went to inform party elders of his intention to seek re-election as the party’s candidate for the 2020 Elections, a party elder, (name withheld), openly mentioned that he and some people he termed as ‘minority' in the Wa community campaigned, prayed and voted against Hon Rashid Hassan Pelpuo for him not to win the 2016 parliamentary elections due to some unresolved internal party issues. This tells us of the dangers in allowing unresolved internal party issues to fester.

The choice of the NPP candidate for the seat cannot be ruled out as a contribution to the gains of the NPP in that regards.

An analysis of the results does not in any way suggests that the ‘longevity’ of Hon. Rashid Hassan Pelpuo calls to question or can be faulted as been a contribution to the gains of the NPP, contrary to what some contenders of him want party members to believe. On the contrary, it reveals that his contributions in the areas of education, water, electricity, communal development, sociability and peaceful nature among others, are factors that kept the seat for the NDC.

Conclusion

We conclude by cautioning leadership, membership, loyalists and followers of the NDC in the Wa Central Constituency that any candidate of the NDC for the Wa Central Constituency seat is capable of winning or can also lose the seat if they will not put the party’s interest first and above other considerations.

It will be out of political naivety, lack of ability to appreciate the dynamics of elections in cosmopolitan Wa Central Constituency or sheer ignorance for any person to blame any individual for the dwindling fortunes of the NDC in the Wa Central Constituency.

Duty bearers should adopt pragmatic and proactive strategies towards handling intraparty issues and others in the constituency if the party wants to maintain the constituency as theirs for a longer time to come. It is the responsibility of every party member to work to increase the votes of the parliamentary and presidential candidates in the constituency albeit more on leadership at all levels

Thank you.

Released by The Crusaders

21st July, 2019.

Signed

Comrade Abdul-Latif Osman Sinsew – President

Comrade Umar Tiani – Secretary