The Bongo Constituency: Will the dynamics change?

If it were any other election year other than the forthcoming election on December 7, 2020, all fingers with all certainty would have been pointing at one political party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) winning the Bongo Constituency.

This is because the people of the Bongo have shown absolute loyalty to the NDC since the inception of the fourth republic, however, with dynamics of development and politics in the area leading this year’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections, no open minded person would be able to predict with confidence the political party that would be declared winner after the polls on Monday.

The Bongo Constituency in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region is one of the 275 constituencies of the Parliament of Ghana with the current voter population of 59,457 ready to vote across 123 polling stations for four candidates.

They are the incumbent Mr Edward Abambire Bawa of the NDC, Mr Peter Ayamga Ayinbisa of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr George A-Enbinge Afari of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and Mr Richard Akamah of the Ghana Union Movement (GUM).

Since Constitutional rule returned in 1992 after 11 years of break, Mr Gaaga Akayeri Azitariga of the NDC became the first Member of Parliament for the area and ruled for only one term before Mr Simon Alangde Asabo of the NDC also won and represented the area from 1996 to 2000.

Mr Albert Abongo, still of the NDC who is the longest-serving MP or the Constituency enjoyed four terms, from 2000 to 2016 before Mr Edward Abambire Bawa of the NDC winning 2016 to represent the people in the seventh Parliament of the fourth republic.

It was therefore not surprising to hear former President and flagbearer of the NDC Mr John Dramani Mahama expressing gratitude to the people of Bongo for their unflinching support when he visited the area as part of his campaign tour of the region.

With no offence to other candidates, a major threat to Mr Bawa retaining the Bongo seat in the 2020 election is Mr Ayinbisa, the NPP Parliamentary Candidate who many believed had the capability of breaking the jinx.

Mr Edward Abambire Bawa of the NDC.

The 47-year Communications Consultant who holds Master in Business Administration from the University of Liverpool, had served as the Head of Communications at the Ministry of Energy under the erstwhile Mahama’s administration before becoming an MP.

Mr Peter Ayamga Ayinbisa of the NPP is a 46-year old Accountant from the University of Education, Winneba, and current District Chief Executive (DCE) for Bongo whom many have described as the best public official to head the district so far.

Mr George A-Enbinge Afari of PPP is a 46-year holds Masters in Business and Finance from the Paris Graduate School of Management and Upper East Regional Manager of GN Bank who became second in the 2016 elections.

Mr Richard Akamah of GUM is a 46-year old Nurse who has Masters in Community health and Development from the University for Professional Studies and former member of the NPP.

Though Bawa and Ayinbisa, are confident of winning the election, each believe they had done a lot in the district in respect of their last four years and one key thing that could be determining factor is the Bongo-Balungu bridge which collapsed in 2017. This is an eight kliometre stretch from the District capital, Bongo, to Namoo, a border to Burkina Faso and a major route to many communities and source of revenue to the Assembly.

While Mr Bawa indicated that it was his lobbying power on the floor of Parliament that led to rehabilitation of the road in 2020, Mr Ayinbisa noted that the road was constructed under former President John Agyekum Kufour in 2003 but the NDC left it to collapse and added that “talking in Parliament alone could not have fixed the road” and has promised to win the seat for the NPP for the first time.

While some youth have nicknamed Mr Bawa as the right man, others have also nicknamed Mr Ayinbibsa as “Lagbota Yinbisa” which means everybody loves Ayinbisa. So the big question, is will the dynamics change?