NDC Front Divided In 3 Constituencies

In recent times the united front of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in three constituencies in the Upper West Region seems not to be holding. This follows the decision of two members of the party to go solo as independent candidates. The constituencies are Nadowli East and Jirapa. In the Nadowli East a serious crisis has reared its ugly head between the incumbent member of parliament, Mr Mathias Asoma Puozaa, and one of his long time lieutenants, Mr Michael Kumbor, who is now the deputy executive director of the National Service Scheme in charge of operations. Mr Kumbor who contested the party�s primary and lost to Mr Puozaa by 75 to 80 votes has decided to contest as an independent candidate, and already has pasted his posters. What makes the situation so shaky for the NDC is that in the last parliamentary elections in 2008, Mr Puozaa polled 4,789, representing 49.4 per cent as against 4,676 (48.2 per cent) by the candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Robert Ekor Dassah. The difference between Puozaa and Kumbor is said to have polarised the constituency such that it has permeated the rank and file of the newly created Daffiama�Bussie�Issa district assembly. In fact, at the election of a presiding member for the assembly on Tuesday at Issa, the district capital, it took three times of voting before one of the contestants, a medical officer, Dr Sebastien Sandaare, who was said to have been put up by Mr Puozaa was elected. The main challenger of Dr Sandaare, Mr James Wor, a teacher, was the right hand man of Mr Kumbor and his campaign manager, during and before the NDC primaries. In the Jirapa Constituency, Mr Joseph Derigubaa ,a businessman who after losing to Dr Francis Bawaana, at a similar primary, is also contesting as an independent candidate. He has mounted mini billboards and posters at vantage points in the constituency. But the question is whether he can make any serious impact to pull the expected votes from the NDC for the NPP candidate Mr, Abu Dombo, to slip through? The NPP has since 1996 fared very badly in the Jirapa Constituency with its best result being in the 2008 election when the late Edward Salia beat the then NPP candidate, Justin Dakurah, by 12,700 to 6,484 votes. May be with this development, the NPP may strategise and hope that Mr Derigubaa does not step down so that their candidate will take the chunk of the 36,000 registered voters to become the first NPP member of Parliament for the constituency since the introduction of the Fourth Republic in 1992. However, if these differences are not resolved as soon as practicable in the two constituencies, particularly in Nadowli East, expect the NPP to win this seat.