Upper West shocks NPP, pundits
Prior to the December 7 General Elections, their chances looked very bright and there were high hopes that for the first time in the Upper West Region, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was going to match the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as far as the claim to the parliamentary seats were concerned.
Advertisement
Many were those who were hopeful that the NPP would at least increase its number of seats from the present three to at least six.
It therefore became a shocking news to many followers including some NDC people when the results were declared. Going by an earlier analysis by the Daily Graphic on the anticipated outcomes of the parliamentary elections, the newly created Nandom constituency lived up to its billing as the two giants, the deputy minority leader, Mr Ambrose Dery and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Benjamin Kunbuor, gave very good account of themselves, by keenly contesting the seat however, it was Mr Kunbuor representing the NDC who annexed the seat from Mr Dery.
The situation in the Lawra constituency which is also a new constituency did not live up to expectation because many pundits had predicted it for Mr Anthony Abaifa Karbo of the NPP and this assertions were based on the fact that the NPP traced its roots from the Lawra area and especially when he was a prince from the area.
Unperturbed by the expectations and all those predictions, Mr Samson Abu, who is presently the Lawra District Chief Executive managed to prove everybody wrong by convincingly pushing Mr Karbo aside to increase the parliamentary seats for the NDC.
The NPP have themselves to blame for losing the Lambussie constituency seat since the signals were so glaring that the seat was slowly slipping away due to what was perceived to be an abysmal performance of the MP. He was also not visible both in the media and to his people, leading to the overwhelming defeat of Mr John Doghr by the NDC's George Dery.
In the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa constituency, again, there was complacency on the part of the NPP because all was not well with the NDC as a result of a seemingly endless misunderstanding among members of the NDC and instead of capitalising on that to clinch the seat, Mr Ekor Dassah of the NPP went to sleep thereby allowing Mr Mathias Puozaa to retain the seat.
As for the Jirapa Constituency, the NPP was only there to add up to the numbers since the party was well aware that come what may, it could not win the seat and this was manifested in an independent, Mr Paul Derigubaa making mincemeat of the incumbent NDC Member of Parliament, Dr Francis Bawaana Dakura. It is worth mentioning that the "parliamentary prefect" in the Upper West Region, Mr Alban Bagbin who is very much on the ground as far as the Nadowli-Kaleo onstituency was concerned did not have it on a silver platter this time.
This is because the NPP parliamentary candidate, Dr Boye Bandie, worked very hard and gave him the contest of his life but he, however, capitalised on his experience as a veteran politician to teach Dr Boye Bandie a few basic political lessons.
Despite Mr Bagbin winning the seat, many are happy for Dr Boye Bandie for putting up a good fight and are hopeful that come the next four years, he could take the seat away from the NDC.
Alhaji Rashid Pelpuo like Mr Bagbin also had to go through some nervous moments in this year's elections due to the challenge thrown by Mr Issahaque Moomen Tahiru of the NPP and Mr Benard Mornah of the People's National Convention (PNC) but he was able to push them aside to sail through.
Despite the loss, the NPP cannot be disappointed because of the significant gains it made by increasing its votes from about 17, 000 to over 22,000 votes, an unprecedented achievement in the Wa Central constituency since its creation. What broke the camels back for the NPP in the Upper West was the loss of the Wa East constituency seat.
This is because the seat has for the past eight years been the preserve of the NPP, a seat the NPP is still at a loss as to what might have gone wrong. The incumbent and NPP Member of Parliament, Mr Godfrey Bayon, this time around could not stand the might of the DCE, Mr Ameen Salifu, who had to map out a new strategy to counter that of Mr Godfrey Bayon Tangu to win the seat.
Like the Jirapa constituency seat, the NPP in the Wa West constituency was just adding up to the numbers as the "overlord"' Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh overwhelmingly maintained his seat.
The battle for the two Sissala seats that is Sissala East and Sissala West constituencies, also became a contest of wits, with the NDC maintaining its visibility.
They pushed aside the two PNC candidates, Mr Moses Dani Baah and Mr Hassan Bayirga, both of whom have been relying on the past glories of the late Hilla Limann who hailed from the area to win the Sissala East and Sissala West seats.
The current picture has created the impression that the NDC was back in the Upper West region and many were of the view that it would be a huge task for any party to penetrate the NDC parliamentary block again in the region, since the party currently owns all the parliamentary seats in the region including the independent candidate for the Jirapa constituency, Mr Derigubaa, who is a member of the NDC but had to switch camp after losing the NDC parliamentary primaries.
Story by Chris Nunoo