The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is still crying over spilled milk as it continues its lamentation over its defeat in the Sekondi parliamentary contest in the 2012 general election.
The party which was cock-sure of its victory in Sekondi prior to the 2012 election tasted a bitter defeat when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Candidate for the area, PaapaOwusuAnkomah, retained the seat with a little over 1,000 votes after 16 years of reign.
Apparently, the wounds of the NDC had not yet been healed as the Western Regional Minister, Paul Evans Aidoo, who was addressing NDC supporters in Sekondi on Wednesday, recalled how painful the defeat was to him.
Mr. Aidoo who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sefwi Wiawso, said the result came as a shock to him, making him very uncomfortable throughout the period.
He said everything was done on his part to ensure that the NDC won the Sekondi seat only to be told some few hours after the elections that the NPP had retained the seat.
“Everything was in place. So just three days to the election, I decided to travel to Sefwi Wiawso to check some few things there as well only to be informed that we could not win the Sekondi seat”, he said.
He alleged that the election was rigged to favour the NPP and that lack of vigilance on the part of NDC members paved way for the rigging.
“The verdict was stolen. It happened during the collation so if we’re not careful, they’ll repeat it”, he said.
“This time round, we need to be vigilant. Do not jubilate until the final result has been declared. Please take note, we should be very careful”, he added.
On the day of election in 2012, even before the Electoral Commission (EC) could announce the final result of the Sekondi Constituency, supporters of the NDC candidate for Sekondi, Captain Anthony Cudjoe (retired), jumped onto the streets in jubilation that their candidate had annexed the seat from the NPP.
But, the final results as declared by the EC indicated that the NPP’s Paapa Owusu Ankomah had won the seat with 1,094 vote difference.
Mr. Ankomah polled 14,735 votes to beat his NDC contender, Captain Cudjoe, who polled 13,641.However, both NDC and NPP have new candidates for the 2016 elections.The showdown this time round would be between NPP’s Andrew Mercer, a legal professional and NDC’s Emmanuel Assafuah, a Former Accountant at the Lands Commission.
But, Mr. Assafuah’s shyness and inability to communicate properly with vigour as against his NPP contender seems to place him as an underdog in the upcoming election.
One of his recent drawbacks was when President Mahama in an attempt to introduce Mr. Assafuah at a rally in Sekondi, failed to recognize him as the NDC candidate for the area, to the extent that he had to ask him “what is your name?” on the podium to the hearing of everyone.
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