The Cape Coast Metropolis is one of the 261 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana. The Metropolis covers an area of 122 square kilometers and is the smallest metropolis in the country. It occupies an area of approximately 124 square kilometres. It was raised to the status of municipality in 1987 and upgrade to metropolitan status in 2007.
The Metropolis is bounded on the south by the Gulf of Guinea, west by Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem Municipal (Elmina as its capital), east by the Abura Asebu Kwamankese District (Abura Dunkwa as its capital) and north by the Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira District (Jukwa as its capital). The population of the Metropolis according to 2021 population and housing census stands at 189,925 with 92,790 male and 97,135 female.
The metropolis was a single constituency called the Cape Coast Constituency from 1992 till 2012 when is was divided into two (2). After the division we got Cape Coast South and Cape Coast North Constituencies.
1992 - 2008In 1992 where Ghana started its 4th republic and democracy, the NDC won both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections. Honourable John Ernest Ekuban won the parliamentary seat on the ticket of the NDC. He is the first MP for the Cape Coast Constituency. The NPP pulled out of the 1992 elections due to reasons best known to them.
The NPP fully participated in the 1996 general elections. I will term this as Ghana’s first serious multi-party Democratic election in the 4th republic. To the surprise of many the NDC won the presidential election but lost the parliamentary to the NPP. Shockingly the NPP candidate that won the seat was a woman called Christine Churcher. She contest against an NDC candidate called Valis S. Akyianu. Churcher won with 4,564 votes than that of the NDC candidate. That is 4.5k+ votes difference.
In 2000, Christine Churcher won the seat for the 2nd time. The NPP won both the parliamentary and presidential elections. She increase the vote margin from 4,564 to 8,023. This was 43% votes increase between the NPP and NDC from 1996 to 2000 as far as the parliamentary election is concerned. The serious issue here is that Christine Churcher increase her votes by just 1,077 from what she had in 1996 but the margin between her and the NDC candidate shot from 4,000+ to 8,000+. This shows how powerful the NPP has gained roots in the Cape Coast Constituency.
In the 2004 general election, the NDC presented a new face in the person of Ebo Barton-Odro. Once again the NPP won both the presidential and parliamentary elections. Hon. Christine Churcher maintained her seat for the 2nd time amounting to three consecutive victories from 1996-2004. This cemented the assertion that the Cape Coast Constituency was fully for the NPP. The NPP won 3 out of 4 parliamentary elections here in this constituency. The good news here was that the NDC started gaining roots because the NPP’s vote margin of 8,023 in 2000 was reduced to 4,726 in 2004.
In 2008 the savior of the NDC arrived. Hon. Ebo Barton-Odro flipped the seat from blue to GREEN. This year Christine Churcher did not contest again so she was replace by Kwamina Ollenu Amponsah-Dadzie. Barton-Odro defeated Kwamina Ollenu. He won the seat for the NDC for the first time since NPP started participating in Ghana’s election. Barton-Odro Shockingly overturned a vote deficit of 4,726 in 2004 and in turn won with a vote margin of 7,268 in 2008. This is where the NDC started winning the hearts of Cape Coasters.
2012 - 2020In 2012 the famous Cape Coast Constituency was divided in 2 constituencies. We got both Cape Coast North and Cape Coast South Constituencies. The good works by Hon. Ebo Barton-Odro from 2008-2012 touched the hearts of the constituents and they loved the NDC the more. After the election on 7th December 2012, the NDC won both Cape Coast North and Cape Coast South. This shows how the people have tilted towards the actions and beliefs of the NDC. Ebo Barton-Odro’s hardwork was recognized by the party and was chosen as the first deputy speaker from 2012-2016. Barton-Odro won Cape Coast North and Kweku Ricketts Hagan won Cape Coast South. When the constituency was divided Barton-Odro’s vote margin of 7,268 in 2008 was drastically decreased to 1,000 in 2012. I personally think this was due to the territorial demarcation of the newly created Cape Coast North.
Now our focus is on the Cape Coast North Constituency. In 2016 Hon. Ebo Barton-Odro decided not to contest again. Mr Kobby Acheampong won the NDC parliamentary primaries and represented the party in the 2016 general election. We lost both presidential and parliamentary seats. The NDC lost the parliamentary election by 3,166 votes and the presidential by 3,362 votes. The NPP regained some momentum in the Cape Coast North constituency while the NDC still won the parliamentary seat of Cape Coast south for the second time. This means that the Cape Coast North has tilted towards the NPP.
In NDC parliamentary primaries in 2020 the known names or bigwigs did not contest and someone went unopposed. The rumor in town was that many NDC bigwigs here saw no possibility of winning the seat in 2020 so they decided not to waste money. The person who went unopposed was Dr. Kwamena Minta Nyarku (Ragga), a lecturer at the University of Cape Coast. Immediately the NPP saw this they started shivering and started their machinations. The happenings are of public knowledge to us all (Delegates). We all stood on our feet till the last day the EC handed over Dr Kwamena’s voter ID card to him. Now it became crystal clear to many that the NDC had a possibility of winning the seat.
In the 2020 election Dr Kwamena Minta Nyarku overturned a vote deficit of 3,166 in 2016 and in turn won with a vote margin of 1,330. Unfortunately for us in the NDC, the NPP increased their presidential votes difference from 3,362 in 2016 to 4,255 votes. This shows that people voted Skirt and blouse this year. Many factors went into this victory but the supreme of it all was our parliamentary candidate Dr Kwamena Minta Nyarku.
MY MESSAGE TO DELEGATESMy colleagues delegates we all know how hard we have fought to be here. How we stood on our feet to stand with Ragga all these while during his battle with the EC prior to the 2020 election. After we won the case we went on to fight till we finally won the ultimate, that is the parliamentary seat. We won the seat because of the following:
- Our collective hard-work
- Our parliamentary candidate
- Happenings prior to the election.
- The NPP gave free advertisement of our PC during his court case.
- Sympathy votes from some NPP members and floating voters because of how they treated our PC in court with respect to his voter ID card.
We are all aware that the NPP is still strong in the constituency per the data of the newly created Cape Coast North from 2012-2020. In 2020 their presidential votes were more than that of our parliamentary and presidential votes. This shows that some people voted for our PC and voted for Nana Addo. Conclusively our PC had some sympathy votes from people perceived to be NPP in nature.
Per data available Cape Coast North isn’t a typical NDC Zone as we can bold say for Cape Coast South. Even in 2020, whiles Ragga snatched the Parliamentary seat for the NDC. President Akufo-Addo and the NPP won the Presidential. Which means the people here rejected the NPP sponsored MP and Parliamentary Candidate (Barbara Ayisi).
I have heard of a lot of propaganda and false accusations against our MP because some NDC people want to occupy that position. They perceive that duly the NDC shall win power in 2024 so they want to become PC going into 2024 election. Let’s ask ourselves these questions:
- Where were they when we needed people to contest in 2020?
2.Why did they sit for someone to go unopposed? - If any of them becomes PC can the person win us the seat in 2024?
If in an unforeseen circumstance Ragga is not maintained as our PC in 2024, will the NDC be going back to the people (electorates) to tell them that the Ragga that they voted for was also a mistake so they have brought another Candidate?
In the sense that the NDC itself at its Parliamentary primaries have cast a verdict and the verdict is that Ragga has failed the constituency in 2 and half years?
This is the picture we are going to paint to the electorates in the constituency should we change Ragga.
Why will the greater voters in Cape Coast North trust the NDC again knowing that the Candidate they presented failed them (NDC)? Won’t the NPP voters better now stick with the NPP bad product than the NDC bad product?
These are some critical questions we need to ask ourselves before going into the parliamentary primaries.
As delegates we have tasted opposition for 6years and I think we should plan on how to maintain this seat and win the presidential seat in 2024. I personally think that Dr Kwamena Minta Nyarku is in good shape to retain this seat for us. He has worked and has his footprints all over the constituency. Let’s not be persuaded by people who want to just occupy the PC position knowing very well that they can win in the GENERAL ELECTION. Ragga is our surest best for 2024.
I HAVE WITH ME A MORE REVEALING AND SCARY STATISTICAL DATA THAT SHOWS THAT THE NDC SHOULD NOT FACE THE 2020 ELECTION WITH COMPLACENCY ELSE WE. MIGHT LOSE THE SEAT. Hope to see you all soon . Thank you all for reading
Electronically Signed:
Kwabena Addae Mununkum
Oguaa Hall Nekyir Branch
Resident of Apewosika
H/No. KV 51
{0248066943}
