NDC Parl. Primaries: Ramadan, Nana Oye, or Linda Awuni, Who wins Adentan?

Barring any last-minute hitches the National Democratic Congress (NDC), will go to the polls to elect its presidential and parliamentary candidates for the various constituencies across the country on Saturday, May 13, 2023.

One of the key constituencies that has attracted huge attention ahead of Saturday’s Parliamentary primaries is the Adentan constituency.

Young vibrant engineer Linda Awuni will be facing it off with one of Ghana’s astute lawyers and former Gender Minister, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, and incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Mohammed Adamu Ramadan.

The Adentan constituency is nicknamed “One Term Constituency” due to the frequent changes of its representative at Ghana’s lawmaking chamber since it was halved from the Ashiaman constituency in the year 2004.

The 2004 parliamentary election was won by the late Kwadwo Opare-Hammond of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). He represented the people of the constituency of the Greater Accra Region in the 4th Parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana.

The late Opare-Hammond was retained by his party during their primaries to represent the NPP in the 2008 parliamentary elections but lost the ultimate to the NDC’s Kojo Adu Asare who served in the 5^th Parliament.

The NDC during its parliamentary primaries in 2011 replaced the then incumbent Adu Asare with Emmanuel Ashie Moore.

Ashie Moore who is the current Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the biggest opposition party in Ghana went all the way to retain the seat for the NDC against a well formidable NPP candidate in the person Frances Awurabena Asiam.

Ashie Moore like his predecessors also managed to serve for only one term under the 6^th Parliament. He subsequently lost the party’s parliamentary primaries to Adamu Ramadan.

Adamu Ramadan became the 2016 NDC parliamentary Candidate but lost the elections to the NPP’s former Director of Communications, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah.

The Adentan NDC’s ‘King and queen makers’ for the first time retained their 2016 NDC parliamentary Candidate Adamu Ramadan to battle it out once again with the then-incumbent NPP MP, Buabeng Asamoah during the 2020 parliamentary elections.

The NDC’s Adamu Ramadan snatched the seat from Buaben Asamoah in the 2020 elections having lost to him in 2016. Thus making the immediate past NPP Director of Communications also a one-term MP, He served in the 7^th Parliament and was the 4^th MP the constituency had produced.

The question running through the minds of many political watchers is will the incumbent MP (Adamu Ramadan) be third time lucky to get the sole ticket of the party this time around considering the personalities he is contending with.

The presence of the youthful Linda Assibi Awuni who seems be appealing to the youth and the coming back of a more experienced and formidable Nana Oye Bampoe who lost to Ramadan in previous contests has made the race keener than expected.

All three candidates are optimistic about their chances to represent the Adentan NDC in the upcoming 2024 presidential and parliament elections.

Anxiety and apprehension are very high among supporters of both aspirants as the over 2,770 delegates are ready to cast their votes come Saturday, May 13, 2023 to elect the party’s sole presidential and parliamentary candidates.

The big question is who is more likely to win the Adentan primary on Saturday. It is only time that can tell.

On this note, I call for calm to rain before, during, and after the elections in Adentan and all the remaining 274 constituencies across Ghana so that Ghanaians and for that matter, the Adentan constituents can live in peace and harmony.

#May the best candidates win.

By Franklin ASARE-DONKOH