David and Goliath fight at Tema West NPP primary
The fight to lead the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Tema West Constituency every four years, arguably, could be described as the most contested race in the Tema metropolis’ electoral history.
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From 1996, when the seat became a traditional one for the party, parliamentary primaries have always come along with associated disputes.
Apart from 1992 when Madam Gladys Boateng of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) represented the constituency in Parliament, renowned legal practitioner and a former Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr Abraham Osei Aidoo, had represented the NPP in Parliament from 1996 to 2008.
The fiercely contested primary between Mr Aidoo and then new entrant and current incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Ms Irene Naa Torshie Addo, also a legal practitioner and a former Deputy Ambassador to the United States of America (USA), saw the delegates throwing their weight behind Ms Addo.
To the delegates, Mr Aidoo grew wings of arrogance and was also not able to meaningfully lobby for the development of deprived suburbs in the constituency.
Thus, a new love affair between delegates, party executives and supporters in the constituency on one side and Ms Addo on the other began blissfully in 2008.
Short-lived romance
The romance was, however, short-lived soon after the 2008 general election and a subsequent conduct of constituency elections, which saw new candidates allegedly handpicked and sponsored by Ms Addo to assume the mantle of leadership in the constituency.
At the said constituency election in 2010, held at the Oak Royal Hotel, allegations of polling station executives who were not residents of the constituency, coupled with the distribution of flat-screen plasma televisions, characterised the processes which saw all past executives who had served from 2007 to 2010 being booted out to make way for new entrants alleged to be the preferred choices of the MP, Ms Addo.
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According to Mrs Adwoa Amoako, a one-time Assembly Member for Sakumono Wolei and a parliamentary aspirant, delegates at the time wholeheartedly embraced Ms Addo as a preferred replacement for Mr Aidoo as they believed her representation could improve the quality of lives of the people and the constituency as a whole.
“We were, however, left licking our wounds when we realised she only sought her interest and sidelined everybody in the conduct of affairs of the party in the constituency. In effect, if she speaks, nobody else has to,” Mrs Amoako indicated.
Thus, in 2011, a breakaway group, calling itself the Redemption Group, led by a former first Vice Chairman of the party in the constituency, Dr Martin Antwi (now of blessed memory), declared to fully support the decision of Mr Osei Aidoo to contest the seat as an independent candidate, when the latter attempted to stage a comeback.
Mr Aidoo’s decision at the time followed an unopposed declaration of Ms Addo at the party’s 2011 primaries which saw her contesting the 2012 general election on the party’s ticket, after a United Kingdom (UK)-based medical doctor, Dr Elvis Donkor, was disqualified from the race under controversial circumstances.
Primaries
Parliamentary primaries in the constituency have since 2008 been defined by tension.
Contending candidates go head to head with one another in their quest to be elected, as surpassing the challenge, one was sure of being in full parliamentary employment with all necessary privileges for a four-year term.
While the 2008 primary in which Mr Aidoo was booted out saw some cracks within the party’s front in the constituency, that of 2012 left most people with bruises, thus extending the scope of division to a higher level.
Enter Carlos Ahenkorah
Even before the new entrant Mr Ahenkorah, who claimed to have been a member of the party since 1992, could make public his intentions to contest the primary, the ground rules had allegedly already been defined by the incumbent MP, Ms Naa Torshie Addo.
Mr Ahenkorah, prior to picking the forms to contest the primary, as part of philanthropic gestures through his Carloking Freight forwarding company, partnered the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and provided relief items to victims of a demolition exercise undertaken by the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) at Adjei Kojo in the constituency.
The gesture, which was alleged to have been frowned upon by the MP, saw thugs attacking the victims and causing damage to the relief items comprising food, clothing and mattresses.
In his quest to test his popularity, Mr Ahenkorah picked forms to contest as a Unit Committee member for the Sakumono Electoral Area in the botched District Assembly Elections which was initially slated for March 3, 2015, but his residence eligibility in the constituency was challenged in court.
A legal suit by some youth leaders in the constituency filed at the Human Rights Court in Accra, however, sought to challenge his dwelling in the Sakumono Electoral Area.
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This subsequently led to a turf war between the two candidates when nominations were opened for the party’s primaries.
Mr Ahenkorah was, however, given his first political blow when he was disqualified from contesting the primaries by the Constituency Vetting Committee for not nurturing the party at the grass roots.
The two subsequently filed counter petitions against each other, until a recent ruling by the National Appeals Committee (NAC), chaired by a former Majority Leader, Mr Felix Owusu Agyapong, cleared Mr Ahenkorah to contest.
Adwoa Amoako
Mrs Amoako, a former Assembly Member for the Sakumono Electoral Area and an ardent follower of the incumbent MP in the past, was not spared the disqualification baton either when Ms Addo filed a petition against her candidature on allegations that she accompanied the then Local Government Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, round her electoral area in the constituency.
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Today’s primaries
With the coast clear for Ms Addo, Mrs Amoako and Mr Ahenkorah to face off in the constituency primary, all three are leaving no stone unturned to be given the nod by the 810 delegates from the 153 polling stations in the constituency.
While the incumbent, Ms Addo, who is focused on getting her re-election message to the delegates, hence her decision to not grant media interviews, is being backed by minority MPs to canvass for votes, Mrs Amoako on the other hand is leaving no stone unturned to drum home her message of providing an aged care centre under a yet-to-be-formed non-governmental organisation (NGO), creating artisanal and entrepreneurship opportunities for school dropouts and the underprivileged in the constituency, among others.
To her, she holds the key to peace, tranquillity and victory in the constituency.
Counting on her rich experience as an Assembly Member at the Tema Metropolitan Assembly for 14 years, Mrs Amoako is hopeful of victory.
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Mr Ahenkorah also intends to use his entrepreneurial experience to create jobs for the unemployed youth in the constituency.
Beyond primary
Going forward, can the Tema West NPP race do away with the controversial tag that has bedevilled it? Will the constituency unite behind Ms Addo should she retain her candidature to contest the 2016 general election? Can Mr Ahenkorah make peace with Ms Addo and court her support for a successful 2016 should he be given the nod? How about Mrs Amoako, should she come out victorious?
Can any of them match the former Local Government Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo of the NDC, who is said to be lacing his boots again for 2016 in the constituency?
After all, if he came close the last time, losing by a paltry 945 votes, why will the NDC bother substituting such a figure who managed to close the gap by gaining 39,005, against Ms Addo’s 39,950?
As it stands, the NPP primary in the constituency might forever maintain its controversial tag.
Writer’s email: delarussel@gmail.com