By Emmanuel Gamson
Takoradi, Oct. 8, GNA – The Sekondi Constituency is one of the three constituencies within the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis and is the administrative headquarters of the twin-city.
A number of the Western Regional administrative offices, including the Regional Co-ordinating Council, and Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) are located in the constituency.
The Sekondi Constituency, which was formed in 1992, has nine electoral areas and 89 polling stations, and is considered a safe seat for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as it has won the parliamentary seat consecutively from the 1996 to 2020 elections.
In terms of presidential voting history, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has won only one of the past eight elections, affirming the fact that the constituency is a stronghold for the NPP.
Ahead of the 2024 general elections, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) looked at the profiles of the two main contenders for the seat.
Mr. Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer – NPP
Mr. Mercer is the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Sekondi, and NPP Parliamentary Candidate (PC) going into the 2024 parliamentary elections.
He succeeded Papa Owusu-Ankomah, who had been MP for 20 years in 2016, and is the current Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture.
Mr. Mercer was born May 25, 1973, in Sekondi, and attended Chapel Hill Preparatory School in Takoradi for his primary education and proceeded to the Adisadel College in Cape Coast, where he obtained both his GCE Ordinary level and GCE Advanced level certificates.
He gained admission into the University of Ghana, graduating with Honours in Bachelor of Arts in Humanities and Bachelor of Laws.
Mr. Mercer studied at the Ghana School of Law and qualified as a lawyer in Ghana after passing his bar examination.
The MP began his professional career as a pupil with Messrs. Acquah-Sampson and Associates, a law firm based in AcAccra, in 2004.
He later joined the First Atlantic Bank as Assistant Manager and rose to become the head of the legal department in 2007.
He started his political career in 2011 where he contested the NPP parliamentary primaries in Sekondi, and lost to Papa Owusu Ankomah, the then incumbent MP.
In 2015, he contested the NPP’s parliamentary primaries and went unopposed and represented the party in the 2016 parliamentary elections where he won by defeating Emmanuel Assifuah of the NDC, Daniel Essuman of the Progressive People’s Party and Peter Arthur of the Convention People’s Party.
He retained the seat in the 2020 elections by defeating Charles Hagan of the NDC and Appiah Eleanor Effie of the Ghana Union Movement (GUM).
The 51-year-old, former Deputy Minister for Energy, and owner of Messrs. Mercer and Company, a corporate and investment law firm, would be looking to win the seat for his third term in Parliament.
Mr. Blay Nyameke Armah – NDC
Mr. Armah was born in Sekondi, on November 25, 1974, and had his Basic Shool Education at Dalton Primary Preparatory School and continued at Young Christian Preparatory School in Takoradi.
He proceeded to Nsein Secondary School where he obtained his Ordinary (O’) Level Certificate, University Practice Secondary School to obtain his Advanced (A’) Level Certificate.
He gained admission into the University of Ghana where he read Public Administration and furthered his education at the Birmingham City University, UK to read Post Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Human Rights Law.
He also attended the University of Westminster in the UK to read Masters in Law (MLAW) and Professional Learning Community (PLC).
He started his professional career at Young Christian Preparatory as a teacher and later worked at the Hurricane in U.K as a Paralegal Officer.
Mr. Armah was also a case worker at CW Law Solicitors in UK, and the Director for N. Armah Venture (Real Estate), Ghana.
As a member of the NDC since 1992, he has served in various supporting capacities and rose to become the party’s Parliamentary Candidate for the constituency in the 2024 December 7 polls.
He is married with four children and will look to snatch the seat from the NPP come December 7, 2024.
GNA