If the incumbent MP, Sarah Adwoa Safo, decides not to run, Mussa Dankwah, the chief executive officer of Global InfoAnalytics, predicts that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will face a challenging battle in the Dome-Kwabenya constituency in the general elections of 2024.
He claimed that with Elikplim Akurugu of the National Democratic Congress being elected, it will be an enormous challenge for the NPP to win the seat. In the NDC’s Saturday parliamentary elections, Elikplim received 1,564 votes. She has now triumphed in the constituency’s NDC parliamentary primary twice.
Mussa Dankwah stated in an interview that the NPP’s chances of keeping the seat are poor, if the MP for Dome-Kwabenya does not run in 2024 because she has strong support from that particular district.
“With Elikplim Akurugu in the picture, the parliamentary elections will be a tough race for the NPP, if the incumbent MP, Sarah Adwoa Safoa is not running in Dome Kwabenya. If Sarah Adwoa Safo doesn’t contest, it will be an open race between the two political parties; NPP and NDC.
“Dome Kwabenya which is one of NPP’s strongholds has been stronger under Sarah Adwoa Safo. If Adwoa Safo is not on the ballot paper in the 2024 general elections, believe me, the race will be tough.”
Mussa Dankwah
Moreover, if Adwoa Safo declines to run in the NPP primaries, he predicted that angry NPP members in Dome Kwabenya will likely support Elikplim Akurugu in the general elections.
“In the polls that we did, 45 percent of NPP winnings came from Taifa North and Taifa South. The last poll we did in October 2022, when Sarah Adwoa Safo issues came up, Elikplim Akurugu was leading in Taifa North…that’s unheard of. There’s a division within the NPP in the constituency, NPP people who have issues with the party will vote for Elikplim Akurugu.”
Mussa Dankwah
Duffuor Caused His Son’s Defeat
Mussa Dankwah, the chief executive of Global InfoAnalytics, attributed Dr. Kwabena Duffuor’s son’s failure in the party’s parliamentary primaries on Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, a failed presidential candidate for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The pollster blamed the loss of Dr. Kwabena Duffuor Jr. for Dr. Duffuor’s interlocutory order against the party.
Inconsistencies in the voter’s register and the photo book were the reason Dr. Kwabena Duffuor withdrew from the NDC presidential campaign. On the same day that he withdrew his lawsuit against the NDC, which tried to prevent the party from holding Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections, he also rescinded his withdrawal from the NDC’s Flagbe\rership race.
In Dr. Kwabena Duffuor Jr’s attempt to get the party’s nomination for the Sekyere Afram Plains, he failed. He received 203 votes compared to Hajia Nasira Afrah’s 211 votes, losing by just eight votes. Along with his own uncle, Dr. Alex Adomako Mensah, the local MP, Dr. Duffuor Jr. was a candidate in that race. Alex Adomako Mensah received 86 votes, while KNUST academic Prof. Edward Brenya received 65 votes.
Dr. Duffuor Jr.’s team requested a recount after the results were announced, but businesswoman Hajia Nasira Afrah still won after the recount. In an interview, Mussa Dankwah asserted that the delegates had penalized the former finance minister’s son for his father’s “sins.”
“What happened in Afram Plains was clearly a family feud between the incumbent, MP Alex Adomako and Duffuor junior. If Duffuor senior hadn’t thrown dynamite in the NDC race, the son would have won that seat. If the man had remained in the race, his son would have won the race.
“Duffuor snr made enemies in the NDC by the court action he took. There are people who would have voted for the son, but I think the family was punished. If Duffuor snr had played his cards well, his son would have won the seat.”
Mussa Dankwah
Mr. Dankwah claimed it was an error of judgment for the former finance minister to decide to run for office.
“You couldn’t think of a strategy behind their campaign, what did they want to achieve? Did they ignore the polling numbers and were they living in the reality?”, questioned, Mussa Dankwah, the chief executive of Global InfoAnalytics.
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