By Bertha Badu-Agyei
Accra, Oct. 29, GNA – One of the exciting constituencies to watch in the December 7, general elections is the Okaikwei-North constituency in the Greater Accra Region, where two women representing the two major political parties are vying to represent the people in parliament.
Madam Theresa Lardi Awuni, the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is seeking re-election, while Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei, a two-time MP for Akuapem-Akropong has switched camp to contest on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the Okaikwei-North seat.
Both candidates were part of the 40 women who entered parliament in 2020 and among the 29 women parliamentarians who survived their political parties’ primaries, to seal their candidature for another election bid.
Since 1996, the NPP has won both the presidential and parliamentary elections with the exception of 2004 and 2020, where candidates of the NDC broke this dominance and entered parliament, thus the Okaikwei-North constituency is seen as one of the strongholds of the NPP which has contributed massively to any of the NPPs electoral victories over the years.
In the 2020 general elections, Madam Theresa lardi Awuni, a product of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and a former Principal Disaster Control Officer, at the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), broke the status quo and snatched the seat from the then NPP incumbent MP Alhaji Fuseini Issa.
She polled 29,281 votes representing (51 per cent) of the total valid votes cast and entered parliament in 2017 as the second female MP after Madam Elizabeth Sackey, a two-time MP for the area on the ticket of the NPP and the second NDC Parliamentarian for the area.
Nana Dokua Asiamah-Adjei, the NPP candidate on the other hand, is currently the incumbent MP for the Akuapem-Akropong constituency in the Eastern Region, in a twist of turn contested the NPP parliamentary primaries in June this year at the Okaikwei-North constituency, beating a former MP for the area and madam Afia Akoto, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of MASLOC, to win the candidature to the surprise of many.
Ms Asiamah-Adjei, a former Deputy Minister for Information and currently the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, entered Parliament in 2017 on the ticket of the NPP, to represent the good people of the Akuapem-Akropong constituency and was re-elected in 2020, polling massive votes of over 26,000 in both elections.
Meanwhile, Mr Samuel Awuku, a former National Organiser of the NPP and the Director-General of the National Lotteries Authority (NLA) is acclaimed as the NPP Parliamentary candidate to replace her in Akuapem-Akropong constituency in the 2024 general elections.
The big question is whether the incumbent Theresa Awuni could maintain the seat for the NDC for the third time or Nana Dokua, who has switched camps would do the magic and entrench NPP’s position in the constituency, December, 7 has the answer.
What is clear is that whoever wins, the Okaikwei North constituency will have a female MP, which is significant to the much-desired increased women’s participation in governance and leadership.
GNA