Second wave of fresh faces in parliament
A fresh army of new MPs is coming to parliament in what is a second wave of novices in the chamber.
In 2016, a massive first wave of 123 MPs flooded Ghana’s 275-member chamber.
That is, nearly half of the 2017 parliament were new MPs, a revelation that ignited concerns about high attrition rate in a chamber that parliamentary analysts say is in dire need of experienced hands.
Nonetheless, it has not stopped what is beginning to look like a second wave of new MPs.
Theghanareport.com‘s election data centre, has counted at least, 17 new names set to begin their parliamentary careers in January 2021.
Abu Jinapor
The President’s deputy chief of staff is set to swap the upper echelons of government for the second arm of government.
He won the Damongo seat kicking out the experienced Adam Mutawakilu who is the Minority spokesperson on energy.
Mutawakilu is a two-term MP hoping for a third but stopped in his tracks by a first timer in a parliamentary election that was a battle between two royals.
Mohammed Ramadan
Samira Bawumia, Ghana’s second lady, will find it hard to cry and still find it hard to smile when the results from the Adentan constituency reaches her office.
Her brother, who is a member of her rival party, NDC, has defeated the governing party’s Communication Director and Adentan MP, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah.
The interesting thing about the Adentan constituency is that a first-timer has replaced a first-timer.
The politics of Adenta make interesting research work. No incumbent has won re-election since it was created in 2004.
It is a swing constituency that likes the pendulum swings between the NPP and NDC.
Whiles Abu Ramadan is jubilating at his important breakthrough in politics, history tells him that he could be on his way out in four years’ time.
Francis Xavier Sosu
The popular human rights lawyer has won the Madina constituency at the second time of asking.
He defeated NPP stalwart, Boniface Abubakar Siddiq who only won the seat in 2016 and was seeking re-election.
Boniface is a Minister of State at the office of the Vice President and a former MP for Salaga South, a seat he held for two terms.
He has a combined parliamentary experience of twelve years, but in 2020, that counted for little in Madina as Francis Sosu, known in some quarters as the champion of the masses finished the minister in a David and Goliath style.
Gizella Tetteh Agbotui
Gizella Tetteh Agbotui is the sister of Ghana’s former ForeignAffairs Minister.
Her family tasted electoral defeat in 2016 when the foreign minister lost the Awutu Senya West Constituency of the Central Region.
Four years later, her sister has put a smile on the family’s face. Sweet revenge, as Gizella has kicked out George Andah ending his four-year parliamentary career.
Gizella is a first-timer who has also kicked out a first-timer. She is the sister of a minister who was kicked out but has now on her own kicked out another minister.
Bede Zledeng
After former rivals in the Lawra constituency patched up their bitter differences, the writing was on the wall for the Deputy Roads and Highways Minister, Anthony Karbo.
He had in 2016, won a seat that traditionally belonged to the NDC.
Lawra politics
The seat was held by the NDC ahead of the 2016 parliamentary elections. But after the NDC MP then, Samson Abu lost the primaries, he went independent.
The split hurt the chances of Bede Ziedeng, a lawyer and NDC parliamentary candidate for Lawra in 2016.
It allowed NPP’s Anthony Karbo to snatch the seat.
Anthony Karbo polled 38.49%, Bede Ziebeng won 33.06% while the independent candidate who broke off from the NDC obtained 24.99%.
Anthony Karbo was made a deputy minister under the Akufo-Addo government.
Samson Abu was sacked from the NDC for breaching the party’s constitution but has been recalled as the party tries to paper over cracks.
The Lawra constituency is one of the strongholds of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Ghana. The NDC held the seat for four consecutive polls, from 1992 to 2004 but lost it in 2008.
The seat was reclaimed in 2012 but lost to the NPP again in 2016.
Akwesi Owusu Afrifa
When the incumbent, Nii Okia Laryea of the NDC signalled he would no longer go for a third term, the party handed over the ticket to Sedem Kweku Afenyo.
But for a seat more aligned to the NDC, the NPP’s victory is an upset.
Akwesi Owusu Afrifa despite early signs of division in the NPP camp managed to pull through to unseat the NDC in what was beginning to look like the party’s stronghold.
To give it some perspective, the NPP has won the seat just once since the Amasaman constituency was created in 2012 out of the Trobu/Amasaman constituency.
After three elections in Amasaman, the NDC has won two consecutively. The NPP has now won one.
Ophelia Hayford
In the politics of widowhood, the wife of the late Mfatseman MP Ekow Hayford has won the seat in the swing constituency.
The NDC has won the seat four times with the NPP winning it three times.
Ophelia’s victory makes it the fourth NPP victory in the constituency.
Ghanaians love to dry the tears of widows of politicians by giving them a seat in parliament o replace their deceased husbands.
The NDC candidate, Odziifo James Essoun knows this, and so when Ekow Hayford was killed while returning from a campaign, it also killed any chance of the NDC winning the seat.
Akanvariba Lamisi Lydia
The story of Lydia is similar to the story of Ophelia Hayford.
She is the wife of the late Tempane NDC parliamentary candidate.
The nurse defeated Ghana’s Deputy Attorney General, Joseph Kpemka winning by a margin of 4,000 votes.
She polled over 20,000 to beat the incumbent, Mr. Kpemka, who had a little over 16,000 votes.
In truth, it was always going to be an uphill task for Kpemka whose 2016 victory was an outlier.
Since the country’s constitutional rule began in 1992, the Garu-Tempane Constituency has been a safe seat for the NDC.
However, the NDC lost its grip on the constituency in 2000 and 2016.
The Tempane Constituency was carved out of the Garu-Tempane Constituency in 2012.
The NDC parliamentary candidate for the constituency, David Adakudugu, died in September last year.
But unlike Ophelia Hayford’s case, the NDC had enough time to hold a primary in which David Adakudugu’s wife emerged victorious.
Benjamin Ayiku Nartey
Described as the Godfather and financier of most of the NDC parliamentary candidates in the Ledzorkuku constituency, Mr. Nartey decided to finance himself in this year’s elections.
He beat the incumbent NPP MP, Dr. Okoe Boye who is also a Deputy Health Minister.
Mr. Nartey beat Okoe Boye with less than 200 votes.
He will join the list of freshmen to be ushered into the chamber in January 2021.
Hajia Zuweira
The career diplomat won the Salaga South seat in the Savannah Region. The soft-spoken former Minister-Counsellor and Head of Information and Public Relations of the Ghana High Commission in London, became the first woman to win the seat.
When she won her primaries last year, she acknowledged the feat she chalked.
“The journey has not been easy, for the first time a woman has won the primaries. It is a victory for team Hajia Zuwera, a victory for Salaga south and the NDC. I know I am winning the constituency seat back to the NDC in the general elections by the grace of God”
She won the election with 20, 525 against her closest contender and NPP candidate, Salifu Adam Braimah’s 19,086.
Peter Lanchini Toobu
The NDC parliamentary candidate for Wa West, Peter Lanchene Toobu will also be in the next Parliament.
Lanchene Toobu, who was a former Executive Secretary to the immediate-past Inspector General of Police (IGP) David Asante Apeatu, polled 27,550 votes in the just ended parliamentary race.
His opponent, Dari Daniel Kuusongno of the NPP, on the other hand, obtained 13,143 votes from the 40,829 total votes cast.
Dzifa Abla Gomashie
Madam Dzifa Abla Gomashie after a successful career in the movie industry will now be making a bold step into Ghana’s parliament.
She won the Ketu-South constituency seat in the Volta region for the National Democratic Congress.
The veteran actress beat the New Patriotic Party’s David Tiahno Quarshie to secure victory for the NDC in that part of the region.
She is replacing the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency Fiifi Kwetey who did not seek reelection in the December 7 2020 election.
The story is being updated…