In a surprising move, Sheela Sakyi Oppong, a private legal practitioner has announced that she is seeking to contest the Dome Kwabenya seat on the ticket of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
This move puts her on a collision course with the incumbent Member of Parliament, Sarah Adwoa Safo, who has held the seat since 2012 and has not given up on representing the Constituency again.
Sheela Sakyi Oppong is currently the head of strategic planning and implementation and legal advisor at the Office of the First Lady of the Republic of Ghana, as well as the head of the Rebecca Foundation.
She has an impressive academic and professional background, with degrees in both law and economics, as well as experience working in the private and public sectors, including for the World Bank.
One of her key achievements was facilitating doing business in Ghana for many Dutch companies and doing business in the Netherlands for many Ghanaian businesses while serving as the Private Sector Development Policy Advisor at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana. Sheela Sakyi Oppong has also handled many private and public sector clients as a Lawyer with S.K. Boafo & Co.
However, her bid for the Dome Kwabenya seat will not be an easy one, as Sarah Adwoa Safo is a formidable opponent who has won the seat by comfortable margins in the past. Safo was highly regarded in the NPP, and held position of Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection until her removal last year following her decision to take residency in the United States.
The battle between these two women and Mike Oquaye Jnr will be closely watched, as it will be a test of Sheela Sakyi Oppong’s political skills and the NPP’s willingness to embrace new faces and ideas.
Dome Kwabenya is a hotly contested seat that has a history of producing big winners, and whoever emerges victorious will have a significant impact on the direction of the NPP and Ghanaian politics as a whole as the constituency boasts of highest registered voters.
By Vincent Kubi