NPP, NDC in hot pursuit of Chambas Seat

With the appointment of Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, as the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, Ghana’s two most dominant political parties, the ruling New Patriotic Party and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) are set for a fierce battle for the vacant Bimbilla seat. Chambas is expected to relinquish the seat having been voted the Executive Secretary of the sub-regional organisation.

Evening News reports say “the ruling NPP and the NDC are far advanced in their skirmishes and are combat ready,” even before the country’s Electoral Commission declares the seat officially vacant and announce the date for the by-election.

The NPP is banking its hopes on a tutor at the Bimbilla Training College whilst the NDC might field a former presiding member of the Nanumba District Assembly who is also an educationist.

The Nkrumahist parties, PNC, CPP and GCPP are yet to announce themselves in the area and the probability is that they might continue with the 2000 electoral alliance with the NPP, the Evening News speculates.

Indications on the ground are that the NDC and NPP have equal chances of winning the seat depending on how they each conduct their campaigns.

One peculiar thing about the Bimbilla constituency is one of the most unpredictable constituencies in the country if previous Parliamentary elections are anything to go by.

Dr. Chambas won the Constituency, which has been dominated by the Nkrumahist tradition, in the 1992 elections when the opposition boycotted that election.

In the 1996 elections, Dr. Chambas on the ticket of the NDC was defeated by a less known person, Dagmani Mpabi George on the ticket of the PNC.

Not only was Dr. Chambas defeated, he placed third with 7, 488 votes. The NPP candidate Dr. Alidu Aduna Mahama had 9,467 votes whilst Mr. George who stood on the PNC ticket won by 13, 796 votes.

In the 2000 elections, Dr. Chambas made a strong come back and won the constituency on the ticket of the NDC, this time round the PNC and NPP candidates for the 1996 elections did not contest.

The success of the NPP and the NDC at the bye-election is very significant. For the NPP victory would confirm the acceptance of its policies and reposition of the confidence of the electorate in the party.

For the NDC, it would be contesting constituency as an opposition party and would like to win the seat to confirm its dominance in the north and also serve as a moral booster for subsequent elections as well as testing its popularity on the ground.

So far, the campaign message of the NPP is that the Nanumba area which constitutes the Bimbilla and Wulensi constituencies has since 1996 been in the opposition, a situation that had hindered the development of the area, therefore, the electorate should vote for the NPP and be part of the ruling team.

Besides, they argue that the people must show gratitude to the NPP for nominating a son of the area to the position of Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, whereas, during the tenure of the PNDC/NDC, Dr. Chambas was marginalized.