Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei
The sudden popularity of the parliamentary candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Okaikwei North Constituency, in the 2024 general election, is causing sleepless nights for the rank and file of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Unable to stop the “blazing fire” ignited by the young lawmaker, Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei, who left the Akropong seat to fight for the Okaikwei North position, the area where she grew up, the NDC leadership in the constituency has devised means to frustrate her ambition to snatch the seat back for the NPP.
The Okaikwei North seat was one of the strongholds of the NPP until 2020, when the the incumbent, Fuseini Issah was beaten by the unsung NDC candidate, Theresa Awuni, rendering the constituency a battleground between NPP and the NDC.
Criminal gangs have of late been destroying the parliamentary candidate’s posters even as the people in the constituency, both old and young, are buying into Nana Ama Dokua’s vision for the area.
A member of the NDC believed to be a relative of Member of Parliament (MP) Theresa Awuni, has tried to test the law about Nana Ama Dokua’s eligibility to contest the Okaikwei North seat. A petition challenging her right to vote in Okaikwei North has been filed by Kingsley Anyamasah, belived to be an NDC sympathizer, with the Electoral Commission (EC).
The objection, filed using the EC’s official form, claims that the parliamentary candidate is neither a resident nor an ordinary resident of the constituency. Responding to the ploy by the NDC to get her out of the race, Nana Ama Dokua said “my opponents are worried at my campaign approach. How I am received everywhere and even the various research reports are in my favour have sent shivers down their spine. Initially they used to call thugs to create chaos during my programmes, but the thuggery did not stop me.”
She explained that the reason for their protest was borne out of the failure of Theresa Awuni, the sitting MP, hence the decision to protest my eligibility to vote in the area.
“It is unfortunate that my opponents have refused to be abreast of the laws governing our electoral process. I live in the constituency, in fact I grew up in the area near Petroleum in North Achimota. I transferred my vote last year and I voted in last December’s district level elections,” she explained, adding that the petition against her is not about her eligibility as a candidate but as a voter.
A voter in the constituency, Charles Kpotivi, said “we look forward to the showdown between Nana Ama Dokua and the sitting MP, Theresa Awuni in one of the key battlegrounds on December 7, 2024.”