Road to Election 2024: Sene East NDC safe seat, Sene West wobbly

While indications on the ground point to another victory for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the upcoming election, so far as the Sene East Constituency is concerned, the Sene West seat, which has all along been for the NDC, seems very shaky for the party this time round.

The 2020 election saw the New Patriotic Party (NPP) breathing down the neck of the NDC in an uncompromising duel that seems likely to be repeated, come December 7 and the current occupants may not be third-time lucky.

The Sene East Constituency located in the Sene East District in the Bono East Region was carved out of the then Sene District (now known as Sene West District) of the then Brong Ahafo Region, on March 9, 2012, through a Legislative Instrument (LI) 2091 and was inaugurated on June 28, 2012 at Kajaji, the District Capital.

This was done prior to the general election in December 2012, thus bringing about the Sene East and Sene West districts and subsequently the Sene East and Sene West constituencies.

This was among the changes that led to the creation of 45 new constituencies that year.

The Sene East District is one of the 261 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in the country, and forms part of the 11 municipalities and districts in the Bono East Region.

Sene East is about 4,240 kilometers from Sunyani, the Regional Capital of Bono and it is located in the north-eastern corner of the Bono East Region of Ghana.

It covers a vast land area of 4,392.4 sq km and shares boundaries with East Gonja Municipal to the north, Krachi West District to the east, Sene West District to the west and Kwahu Afram Plains North District to the south.

According to the 2021 Population and Housing Census, the population of the district stands at 72,081, with 38,433 males and 33,648 females.

Even before the Sene East Constituency was created, the Sene area was the stronghold of the NDC.

Also, since the country returned to multi-party democracy in 1992, the NDC has always held the seat when it was known as the Sene West Constituency, grabbing it with 19,556 votes (61.30 per cent) in the 1996 election, holding on with 68.1 per cent in 2000, retaining in 2004 with 69.5 per cent of the votes cast, and still winning the seat with 53.7 per cent despite the loss of some votes to closest rival, the NPP in 2008.

The trend continued in the 2012 parliamentary election, with the NDC showing that the new seat belonged to the party, by claiming 66.93 per cent of the votes cast (10,343) after the Sene East Constituency had been created.

Again in 2016 the NDC’s Dominic Napare contested the Sene East Constituency parliamentary seat and won with 9,936 votes, representing 67.07 per cent of the total votes cast.

In 2020 the incumbent NDC MP ensured he protected the seat for his party by amassing 13,401 (64.35 per cent) of the total votes while the NPP’s Luchoun Nicholas Bitagan, had 7,424 votes, representing 35.7 per cent of the votes.

The closest contenders for the seat, the NPP, have only managed to garner around 30 per cent of the votes in all elections from 2012 onwards, but from 2000 the NPP’s votes hovered around 20 per cent (24.1 per cent in 2000, 28.9 per cent in 2004 but 41.5 per cent in 2008, the closest the party came to annex the seat).

In that year, however, the NDC still snatched the victory with 53.7 per cent of the votes.

The NPP has in the last three elections changed its Parliamentary Candidate for Sene East (Abdulai Mohammed Belinyi who had 32 per cent in 2012, Mbanyie Abraham Kwadwo who repeated the 32 per cent in 2016 and Luchoun Nicholas Bitagan who increased it to 35.7 per cent), but that has not changed the party’s fortunes.     

Dominic Napare

Born on November 3, 1960, Dominic Napare is a politician serving his third term as Member of Parliament for the Sene East Constituency in the Bono East Region on the ticket of the NDC.

Incidentally, he was the District Chief Executive of the Sene East District from April 28, 2009 to 2012. Perhaps that accounts for his popularity and success at holding on to the seat for three consecutive terms.

Napare hails from Kajaji, capital town of the Sene East District. He attended the University of Education, Winneba, where he obtained a Bachelor of Education degree in Management and Secretarial Studies.

He is the Vice-Chairperson of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Committee; member of the House Committee; member of the Privileges Committee; and also a member of the Local Government and Rural Development Committee.

Sene West

Just as indicated for the Sene East Constituency, the Sene West seat has been occupied by the NDC since 1996 (it was one constituency then), when the party won the parliamentary election with 61.3 per cent of the ballots cast.

Subsequently in the year 2000, the party increased its tally to 68.1 per cent, then pushed it further to 69.5 per cent in 2004 (Incidentally that year was when the NDC got the highest of its votes in the area in an election).

However, the NDC’s fortunes changed when it only managed to garner 53.7 per cent in 2008. The NPP gave them a run for their money by taking 41.5 per cent of the votes that year (a rise from the previous election’s 28.9 per cent).

Nonetheless, the NPP could not sustain the gains made, losing out in the 2012 election and only managing 34.5 per cent of the votes, while the NDC took the chunk of 64.2 per cent after the constituency had been split into two.

But the NPP pushed harder in the 2016 election to obtain 44.3 per cent of the votes cast (its best performance since 1996), while the NDC still ran away with the victory by taking 51.9 per cent of the votes.

Having been emboldened by that performance, the NPP gave the NDC a showdown in the 2020 parliamentary election, which resulted in a dispute in the final result.

After the dispute had been settled and the votes recounted, the NDC’s Kwame Twumasi Ampofo was declared winner by the Electoral Commission with only 16 more of the votes.

He obtained 13,116 (49.67 per cent) of the votes cast, while the NPP’s Joseph Mackay Kumah had 13,100 (49.61 per cent) of the votes.

If the NPP’s consistency since the 2016 election is anything to go by, then the Sene West seat could be annexed by the party come the December 7 election, especially if they give the current occupant of the seat — the NDC’s Kwame Twumasi Ampofoa repeat performance of the 2020 election and tighten up a few nuts.

This year’s contest for the Sene West seat promises to be exciting and full of fireworks between the NDC and the NPP, as it will be between two contenders who have been slugging it out since the 2016 election —the NDC’s Kwame Twumasi Ampofo who is the incumbent MP and the NPP’s Joseph Mackay Kumah who will be contesting the seat for the fourth time.

The Sene West Constituency, thus promises to be a hotspot that must be watched keenly.

Twumasi Ampofo

A former Deputy Minister of Education, Kwame Twumasi Ampofo, a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, was born on March 6, 1968. He is a politician and has been a Member of Parliament since 2012, representing the Sene West Constituency in the Bono East Region on the ticket of the NDC.

He is married with three children. He is a member of the Government Assurance and the Works and Housing committees in Parliament.

He attended the Essex County College, NJ, USA, 2005 and offered BSC in Business Management.

He worked as the Managing Director at Premier Pharmaceuticals from 2006 to 2012. He also worked as the assistant Managing Director at Ghana Oil Premier Pharmaceuticals from 2003 to 2006. He was a teacher with the Ghana Education Service from 1993 to 1995. 

Who is Joseph Mackay Kumah?

Joseph Kumah Mackay was appointed by President Akufo-Addo as the new Chief Executive for the Middle Belt Development Authority in February 2023.

Before his appointment, Mackay Kumah was the Director of Monitoring and Evaluation at the National Entrepreneurship and Innovations Programme (NEIP).

He is also a three-time parliamentary candidate for the NPP in the Sene West Constituency.