Will the NDC Meet Its Waterloo in Cape Coast?

- KUKRUDU falters to the Umbrella
... Electorate say "Adze wo fie a oye"

Almost twelve weeks for the electorate to go to the polls to cast their votes to elect the Members of Parliament, The Chronicle report indicates that the battle ground is not fertile for the ruling NPP government. There is a clear discernible shift.

The importance of Cape Coast cannot be over-emphasised as a political bridge into the decisive heart of Fanteland.

This is one area, like most of Fanteland, where the powerful grip of chiefs on the opinions of voters is virtually non-existent. Even the illiterate granny has an opinion all her own, speaks English, and prefers baked beans and freedom to iron rods and political control.

When the NDC in 2000 dispatched a motley assembly of chiefs from the Volta Region to lean on the opinion leaders and chiefs to get their 'subjects' to vote for their own - Prof.

Mills - as they do in the Volta Region, they were so roundly rebuffed that they left behind their sandals.

Cape Coasters want to do their own thing. No chief can tell them to do anything. They will make their own choices in their own time. They decided to vote for Kufuor and Churcher.

A random sampling of opinions plus intelligence permutations survey conducted by the paper in this former colonial capital shows that the fortunes of NDC presidential candidate,Prof.John Evans Atta Mills is changing. The electorate is now saying "adze wo fie a oye......."

This means that majority of the electorate had decided to vote for their own son this time around. Some claimed that it was about time the region and, for that matter, Cape-Coast in particular honour its own son who is fighting hard to bring glory to the people as clearly seen from the Ashanti Region of the country.

Mills, knowing how tough it is to convince the people to vote for him, started gathering his votes when he embarked on a series of keep fit exercise which observers say it had made positive impact.

Also, it is on record that majority of the people think the ruling NPP government had not done much for them and therefore have decided to shift goal post.

A few weeks ago, some mmebers of the NPP announced their defection from NPP to Convention People's Party (CPP), when Araba Bentsi Enchill launched her campaign.

Even a staunch member of the party confided in The Chronicle that because there had not been much developmental projects, they are now strategising on how to package their campaign messages.

But since the electorate is not predictable whether the current situation will reflect realities on the ground in the December elections is yet to be seen.

For Mills, Cape Coast may be his waterloo if the current momentum fizzles out by November, and for the NPP, the 'Skirt and Blouse' phenomenon, which is very much alive on the ground and growing, will certainly backfire, if there are attempts to use the big stick to crush the people's freedom to vote for whom they want.