Election 2020: 'Skirt and Blouse' or straight vote for Tema candidates?

Loud political party songs blurring out from huge speakers powered by generators mounted on pick-up vehicles, crisscrossed Tema on Saturday as the clock ticked towards the December 7 general election.

With deafening sounds, political party agents stopped intermittently to drum their messages home through songs. While the New Patriotic Party (NPP) dwelt and stressed on the “4 more 4 Nana to do more” slogan, their obvious contenders, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), played its anthem and pushed its “two sure, Mahama Afa 2020” agenda.

The new political campaign strategy of health walks, house to house campaign and mini rallies were intensified as political parties especially, the NPP and the NDC rounded up their campaigning amidst great disrespect for COVID-19 protocols.

The statement “skirt and blouse”, a Ghanaian term for split-ticket voting, featured prominently on the lips of the electorates especially those in Tema East. According to most residents, they would punish the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) and candidate for the NPP, Mr Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover by splitting their votes for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the presidential race and Mr Isaac Ashai Odamtten, Parliamentary Candidate for the NDC.

Such skirt and blouse threats were so intense that the First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo visited the constituency severally and kept stressing the need for a straight vote as that was the only way the constituency could develop when the President was retained.

The three constituencies in Tema, namely Tema East, Tema West, and Central had been safe seats for the NPP both for presidential and parliamentary while Kpone-Katamanso, Ningo-Prampram, Sege, Ashaiman, and Ada East have always gone for NDC.

The Tema East Constituency is one of the constituencies under the Tema Metropolis and covers Tema Newtown and Tema Community One with a voter population of 101,797 who are expected to vote at 237 polling stations.

Three candidates, Mr Titus-Glover of the NPP, Mr Ashai Odamtten of the NDC, and Mr Stephen Adjieteh Adjei of the Ghana Union Party have their faces on the constituency ballot to be voted to represent the electorates in Parliament.

The incumbent Titus-Glover is a two-term MP, while Mr Odamtten is a first-time contender and a former Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, and Mr Adjei, who is a carpenter, has an uphill task of sawing into pieces the ambitions of the two well established political parties in Ghana.

The Tema Central constituency is being contested by Miss Ebi Bright, a development communicator and actress, contesting for the second time on the NDC ticket, while Mr Yves Hanson-Nortey, a businessman and a first-time candidate is representing the NPP.

The constituency which spans from Tema Communities Four, Seven, Eight, Nine, Six, 10, 11 and 12, has a total of 65,378 persons on the electoral roll and 145 polling stations.

Tema West constituency has a total of 282 polling centers where voters in Tema Communities Two, Five, Three, Sakumono village, Sakumono estates, Lashibi, Baatsonaa, Mataheko, Adjei-Kojo, and its environs would vote to elect one of the five candidates.

The five are the incumbent and NPP candidate, Mr Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, a freight forwarder, the NDC’s Mr Raphael Kwasi Sarpong Tufuor, a medical doctor, Mr Emmanuel Abossey Ashison, a project manager representing Ghana Union Movement (GUM), Mr Solomon Duncan Amponsah, a business administrator standing on the ticket of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and Madam Hyde Karen, a pharmacy assistant representing the National Democratic Party (NDP).

Kpone-Katamanso which has 128,000 voter population and 252 polling stations with five candidates spanning Kpone-on-sea, Michel Camp, Saki-Bediako, Gulfcity, Gbetseley, Nanoman, Oyibi, Appollonia, Katamanso and Gonteng.

The contestants are the NPP's and NDC’s Mr Hopeson Yaovi Adorye and Mr Joseph Akueteh Tettey respectively. They are both new on the ballot paper. The others are Mr Masaudu Chief Moro of GUM, Mr Moro Yussif of the NDP and an independent candidate Mr Alpha Salifu.

It is a two-man race in the country’s second-biggest constituency,-Ashaiman. The area is also known as the Ashaiman Municipality and densely populated.

The NPP’s Alhaji Labaran Yakubu Barry and the NDC’s candidate and incumbent MP, Mr Ernest Henry Norgbey contested each other in the 2016 elections and they are set for another race.

Five contenders will battle it out at Ningo-Prampram for 95,753 votes at 195 designated polling stations.

A presidential staffer, Mr Alexander Leonel Martey, and a former presidential staffer and incumbent MP, Mr Sam Nartey George are contesting on the tickets of the NPP and NDC respectively, while Mr Freeborn Kofi Teye is going for GUM, Mr Benjamin Brown Baddoo for the LPG, and Mr Angmor Richard Nartey, stands as an independent candidate.

With the various dynamics that have played at the various campaigns and processes leading to the elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic, increase in voter populations as well as fierce competition among candidates, voters will deliver their verdict on Monday, December 7, 2020. The results would show whether skirt and blouse will carry the day or straight votes would.