Kpone Katamanso: NDC stronghold, industrial hub

Kpone-Katamanso in the Greater Accra Region is a modest environment thriving as a new host of real estate development.

The Tema Community 26 affordable housing project executed by the state through the TDC Company Ltd has come to symbolise the expansion of the residential accommodation infrastructure of the Tema industrial township.

But this community also hosts the landfill site that receives thousands of tonnes of waste daily from far and near, a waste management plant, and a cemetery that became a major burial ground when land around the Tema Community 9 Cemetery looked exhausted about two decades ago.

A CHPS Compound under construction in the Saki Bediako community

Kpone-Katamanso is also the host community of the Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Company Limited, a major player in Ghana’s current energy production mix; steel manufacturer, B5 Plus; tile manufacturer, Sentuo Ceramics, and a lot of warehouses and manufacturing concerns.

Such is the economic importance of the area that the extremes of production and waste combine to give it a unique attraction of different kinds.

Politics

For now, however, the largely National Democratic Congress (NDC) stronghold faces its next major test as the December 2024 elections approach.

The Kpone-Katamanso seat has been monopolised by the NDC since 1992. The first MP for the area was Joseph Teye Tetteh, who was succeeded by Beatrice Love Naa-Afieye Ashong, who held the seat from 1997 and retained it in 2004.

A major bridge at Nmlitsakpo Electoral Area under construction connects Saki Bediako to other communities in the area

Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, aka Lion, took over the mantle in 2004, and served four terms before hanging up his political gloves. The mantle then fell on Joseph Akuerteh Tettey, a business consultant, who was elected in 2020 and retained in the 2024 elections.

The closest the NPP has come to winning the seat was in the 2016 polls when its candidate, Solomon Tettey Appiah, marshalled 45.4 per cent of the total votes.

The history of the voting trend in the constituency indicates that the constituency has always voted NDC since the beginning of the Fourth Republic.

In 1996, the NDC won the presidential election by 76.8 per cent as against 22.0 per cent secured by the NPP.  In 2000, NDC’s performance dropped to 54.5 per cent, while the NPP improved its performance to 35.8 per cent. In 2004, NDC upped its figures to 87.8 per cent, while that of the NPP dropped to an abysmal 8.9 per cent.

In 2008, NDC’s performance dropped to 65.5 per cent, while the NPP did 32.9 per cent. NPP recorded 39.7 per cent, 45.3 per cent and 40.1 per cent in the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential polls, respectively, while the NDC on its part, did 59.7 per cent,  53.9 per cent and 58.8 per cent in those elections.

Based on the statistics, it appears the NPP votes have been appreciating since 2012, while the NDC has been doing below 60 per cent. But would that be enough to turn the tide?

In the 1996 parliamentary polls, the NDC did 70.5 per cent while the NPP recorded 23.3 per cent. The NDC repeated its dominance in the 2000 elections when it recorded 52.2 per cent while the NPP did 29.5 per cent.

In 2004, NDC shot up marginally to 53.8 per cent, while the NPP did 33.0 per cent. In 2008, NDC recorded 63.0 per cent, while the NPP did 32.5 per cent. For the 2012, 2016 and 2020 polls, NDC did 57.3 per cent, 51.4 per cent and 55.3 per cent, respectively, while the NPP achieved 40.9 per cent, 45.4 per cent and 42.3 per cent in that order.

Who wins?

The main contenders for this year’s election are the incumbent MP, Joseph Akuerteh Tetteh of the NDC, and William Ofosu Asante of the NPP.

Joseph Akuerteh Tetteh — MP for Kpone Katamanso and NDC Parliamentary Candidate 

Tetteh, popularly known as Joe T, took over from Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, a political stalwart in the constituency who hanged up his political gloves in 2020 after winning the 2019 primaries.

A businessman, Joe T once served as a Branch Chairman for the NDC at Sebrepor. He rose to become a Ward Coordinator and later the Constituency Youth Organiser in 2005.

He also served as a government appointee at the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) when Kpone was part of the TMA. Joe T was later appointed the District Manager of the National Health Insurance Scheme for Kpone in 2011.

Mr William Ofosu Asante, for his part, made a foray into the political space in Kpone Katamanso in  2019 when he lost the NPP primaries to Hopeson Adorye.
He polled 203 votes in that race as against 321 garnered by Mr Adorye, but he never relented. He stepped forward again in 2022, this time defeating the MCE for Kpone Katamanso, Samuel Okoe Amanquah, to secure the ticket to contest in the December 7 general election.

The question is whether the NPP would be able to beat the political hegemony of the NDC in the constituency?

KKMA

The Kpone Katamanso Municipal Assembly (KKMA) came into existence in 2012 after it was carved out of the then Tema Metropolitan Assembly by the government.

William Ofosu Asante — NPP Parliamentary Candidate, Kpone Katamanso

Per the Ghana Statistical Service survey in 2021, the population of the municipality was 417,334, representing 7.6 per cent of Greater Accra Region’s total population.

The survey indicated that the male population was 208,040, representing 49.8 per cent, while that of the females was 209,294, representing 50.2 per cent.

The area is the most populous Municipal Assembly in the Greater Accra Region and the second most populous assembly in the country. 

The area is located along the coast in the Greater Accra Region and shares boundaries with Tema to the west, Ada West to the east, the Gulf of Guinea to the south and Akuapem South to the north.

Being an area that stretches from the coast to the southern slopes of the Akuapem Mountains, crop farming is predominant in the northern part of the municipality, fishing dominates in the south, with animal rearing also being a major activity in the area.

The municipality boasts major industries such as the Free Zones Enclave, a number of power plants, including the Sunon Asogli Thermal Power Plant, CEN Power, VRA Thermal Plant, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) Inland Port (Unity Terminal), and other manufacturing industries.

The Tema to Mpakadan railway line for goods passes through the municipality from the Tema Harbour.
 

Roads

Statistics from the Kpone Katamanso Municipal Assembly Composite Budget for 2022/2025 Programme Based Budget Estimates for 2022 indicates that although the municipality is accessible and well connected to other towns, most roads can be described as dusty, rough, bumpy and muddy during the rainy season.

The state of the roads in the Nmlitsakpo electoral area

The total length of roads within the Municipality is 480.1km, made up of 3.5km asphaltic, 3.92 concrete, leading to the breakdown of heavy vehicles plying most of the roads.

There is, therefore, the need for the construction of drains, reshaping and re-gravelling of the roads to save travel time. The area is currently seeing the construction of a 17km three-lane dual express carriageway from the Tema Motorway Interchange through the Central University area, as well as the construction of a 7.2km dual carriageway from VALCO Roundabout in Tema to Kpone, albeit at a very slow pace.

These projects, if executed, might ease the congestion on the Accra-Aflao Highway. In terms of education, the area can boast of over 950 educational facilities across the length and breadth of the municipality, including public and private basic, first and second cycle schools, as well as one private university, Valley View University, at Oyibi.

Political scene

The Assembly member for the Nmlitsakpo Electoral Area, Tetteh Isaac Newton, told the Daily Graphic that one of the major challenges facing residents of the constituency was the deplorable nature of the roads in the area.

"Yes, most of our major roads are very deplorable, including the inner lanes. This makes it very difficult for cars to use them, especially during the rainy season."

He said the situation at Nmlitsakpo, for instance, was the exact representation of roads within the various communities in the entire municipality and, by extension, the constituency, adding that some were even worse.

He said although some of the road projects had been awarded, works had stalled, adding that some residents had to mobilise funds to purchase laterite to fix some of the roads, albeit on a temporary basis.

Writer’s email: benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh