Road to Election 2024: Can NDC hold on to Tain, Banda?

Seen as a swing constituency since acquiring its current name, the Tain Constituency in the Bono Region has contributed its fair share to shaping the local political landscape.

As one of the 12 constituencies of the Bono Region, whose parliamentary seats are equally split between the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Tain gained national political prominence in 2008 when the lot to decide the Presidential election in that year fell on the constituency.

That Tain Constituency episode marked a historic moment in Ghana’s democratic experiment, as the constituency needed to cast a delayed presidential ballot to wrap up the polls of that year.

 With the then-governing NPP showing disinterest at that stage, given the weight of the task to overturn the scale of electoral fortunes, Tain entered local political folklore for its decisive role that brought Prof. John Evans Atta Mills and the NDC back to power in 2009.

Today, the NDC’s Adama Sulemana occupies the parliamentary seat of the Tain Constituency after defeating and dethroning Gabriel Osei of the NPP in the 2020 polls.

NDC dominance

The NDC has dominated the political power struggle of the area, capturing the seat six times (1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012 and 2020), including when it was called Wenchi West, with the NPP holding it for the other two terms (2004 and 2016).

John Dramani Mahama — NDC flag bearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia — NPP flag bearer

The NDC’s near stranglehold on the constituency may well have some explanation. It used to be the parliamentary seat of the party’s National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, when it used to be Wenchi West Constituency, for three straight terms spanning 1993 to 2004 before he quit the legislature to pursue other political endeavours.

The political chess game, however, brings a football administrator, Alexander Ababio, the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Premier League side, Bofoakwa Tano, to the contest on the ticket of the NPP as he launches the party’s latest attempt to wrest the seat from the NDC.

Mr Ababio secured the opportunity at the second time of asking, after falling short in the NPP parliamentary primary in 2019. His conqueror in 2019, the then incumbent Member of Parliament, Mr Osei, would go on to lose the seat in the 2020 national polls.

It is claimed that Mr Ababio’s nomination forms for last year’s party primary were fetched by the youth of his native Dibibi, where he is also the Mmrantiehene (youth leader) of the local traditional council.

His clout as a football character and attraction to the youth add a special spice to the contest against the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Mr Sulemana, who managed more than 2,000 votes difference against the NPP’s Mr Osei in 2020.

Victory margin

Indeed, that margin of victory is the second biggest recorded in the constituency’s parliamentary polls since it obtained its current name, with the NDC also obtaining the biggest victory margin in the area in 2012 when Kwasi Agyemang Gyan-Tutu won the seat with more than 4,000 votes against the NPP’s Joseph Ofori Amanfo.

Otherwise, the constituency’s parliamentary contests have generally produced marginal victories, including the 2016 edition when Gabriel Osei won it with just 41 votes against the NDC’s Mr Gyan-Tutu.

The closeness of the contest in the constituency is depicted by the 41 votes with which President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo beat former President John Dramani Mahama in the 2020 polls in the constituency.

Incumbent’s profile

The incumbent MP, Adama Sulemana, born on March 6, 1978, is a former tutor who hails from Nsawkaw, the capital of the Tain District. The 46-year-old holds a Bachelor of Education degree in Psychology and a Master of Philosophy degree in Social Psychology.

He once served the constituency as the Chief Executive of the Tain District Assembly, which conferred on him the chairmanship status for various standing committees in the district, including the district security committee.

In Parliament, Mr Sulemana serves on the Standing Orders Committee and the Communications Committee as he navigates his way through his first experience in the legislature.

Banda Constituency

A familiar political rivalry and contest dating back to 2012 await the Banda Constituency in December this year when the MP, Ibrahim Ahmed, takes on the NPP’s Joe Danquah in the latest of their electoral battles.

Mr Ahmed toppled Mr Danquah from Parliament in 2008 when they contested for the Tain Constituency, but the two have since shifted their battleground to Banda upon the creation of that constituency.

In 2012, when they relocated their contest to Banda for the first time, Mr Ahmed won the seat with a 695 votes difference before seeing off the NPP candidate with a 507 votes margin in 2016.

Created only in 2012 off the Tain Constituency, the Banda Constituency has hardly shied away from controversy. It has experienced its fair share of political violence and electoral disputes.

Electoral disputes

The NPP, to this day, contests the constituency's parliamentary results of the 2020 general elections after its candidate, Joe Danquah, lost by 82 votes to the NDC's Ibrahim Ahmed.

On just the basis of the relatively better showing by the party's presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the NPP called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to review the parliamentary results of the last elections.

Adama Sulemana — MP and  NDC candidate, Tain,  Alexander Ababio — NPP candidate

En route to his re-election, President Akufo-Addo polled 8,332 votes in the Banda Constituency as against his biggest opponent, former President John Mahama, who polled 7,881 votes.

 On account of the 451 superior vote difference, the NPP leadership in the constituency questioned the parliamentary result. It was the only time the NPP had won in that constituency.

For Mr Danquah, the narrow margin of defeat must have been a painful experience, given that he has tasted parliamentary life before. Indeed, 20 years ago, he won the Tain Constituency seat for the NPP. His stay in Parliament was short-lived, however, as he lost the 2008 polls to Mr Ibrahim.

With the parliamentary contest in the constituency decided on almost fine margins, the NDC MP has guarded his territory jealously to keep his place in the legislature for 12 years.

With just 44 polling centres in the constituency, it is one of the smallest areas in Ghana’s electoral system. Yet, it makes the headlines regularly as tension boils over sometimes during electoral activities, including voter registration exercises.

MP’s profile

Born on May 6, 1974, Mr Ahmed has risen from the modest circumstances of his Banda Ahenkro hometown to advanced levels of both academic and political attainments.
The three-term MP, who obtained his ‘O’ Level and ‘A’ Level certificates in 1994 and 1996 respectively, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and a Master of Business Administration in Finance.

In his previous economic life, he was the Chief Executive of Flamingo Publication. In the current Parliament, he is a member of the Budget, Communications, Business, and Local Government and Rural Development committees.