Navrongo (Upper East Region) - As the over 50,000 registered voters at Navrongo Central file at polling stations today (Tuesday) to elect a replacement for the late John Setuni Achuliwor in Parliament, three names stand out as the serious contestants; Gabriel Pwamang of the People’s National Convention (PNC); Clement Fumfuga Bugase, National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Joseph Kofi Adda of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

A fourth, Mrs Grace Bagoniah, who is contesting for the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), is considered only to be adding to the number. But when the Electoral Commission (EC) comes out to announce the results by Wednesday afternoon, Adda of the NPP is the most likely name to be declared winner.

Adda and his party have over the weeks zealously used the stature of the late Achuliwor to soar the candidate’s popularity higher above the remaining three. Each of the contestants in the Navrong Central constituency by-election is convinced that he/she will emerge the winner to become the next Member of Parliament (MP).
The three male contestants made their convictions known to The Ghanaian Chronicle in separate interviews, at Navrongo last weekend. All efforts made by the paper to contact the fourth and only female candidate in the race proved futile as no one could help locate her. However, a sympathiser hinted that the DPP’s candidate was desperately waiting for the arrival of her party’s vehicle from Tamale to set her campaign machinery in motion, at the time of reporting.
On the contrary, Adda, the NPP candidate, who is a financial economist/management consultant, told the Chronicle that his worry, as at last weekend, was not whether he would win the by-election, which he said is a certainty, but rather what he would do for his people after he takes his seat in Parliament.
According to Adda, he was motivated to enter the race to get the opportunity to serve the people of Navrongo and to bring development to the area. “For the past 20 years, Navrongo has not had its fair share of development,” he lamented.
Asked what he would specifically do to help his people, Adda said he was fully aware of the financial constraints facing the government and would therefore fall on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other development partners to access the much-needed resources for the development of his constituency.
Working with the campaign message: “A United Navrongo For A Better Tomorrow,” Adda says he has been preaching the gospel of development with the full participation of the people.
On the chances of the other candidates, Adda said Bugase of the NDC had not done enough for the people of Navrongo, even though he was once a district chief executive (DCE), and MP and a deputy minister. “Perhaps, Bugase is only looking for a job,” he stated.
According to Adda, the PNC candidate, Pwamang, was contesting only to prove that the PNC is not a dead party, adding, “PNC is not a national party and cannot win the Navrong by-election. He said the only female candidate, Bagoniah of the DPP, is not a serious contender.
The NDC candidate, Bugase, who is an agricultural engineer, told the Chronicle that he was very sure of victory because of the lessons learnt from his defeat in the 2000 parliamentary elections. This was when the late John Achuliwor of the NPP edged him out to become the MP for the constituency until his untimely death recently, necessitating the by-election. He said in that election, the other parties rallied behind Achuliwor against him.
The former MP said the people of Navrongo know who is the better material, if they are to choose between him and any other first timers, apparently referring to the NPP and PNC candidates. “The doubting Thomases should join hands to vote for me, since the late MP had nothing to show after two years in office,” he pleaded with the electorate.
According to Bugase, the NPP and PNC candidates had been in Accra all the their working lives and were therefore detached from the people.
For his part, the PNC candidate, Pwamang, a lawyer, said he was offering himself for election as MP at this time to enable the PNC express itself as a party in Parliament. He said the popularity of the PNC has not waned and added that the voter force of the party took Achuliwor to victory as an independent candidate.
Pwamang noted that in 1996, the PNC did not put up a candidate for the parliamentary elections, while in the 2000 elections the late John Achuliwor “carried the PNC support base to win on the ticket of the NPP.” He is convinced that it is the same force that will marshal him to victory.
According to Pwamang, his candidature is the re-awakening of the PNC in the Navrongo Central constituency. Assessing his chances against the other candidates, Pwamang said, “Bugase has a history, but his score sheet is on the lower side.” He thinks he is more exposed politically that Adda, because “As general secretary of the PNC, my performance at the national level, coupled with my constituency as a party member, scores me high marks to be a preferred choice as MP.”
He said in his campaigns in the constituency, the electorate had given the PNC the hope that it will win the by-election.
Meanwhile, the parties have stepped up their campaigns, especially, in the hinterlands and rural areas. “Ask any discerning fellow in Navrongo and he will tell you the PNC is firmly on the ground, but the NPP posters, flags and paraphernalia than those of the other parties are hardly visible.”
One person who is so bitter about the advantage the NPP has over the other parties is the national youth organiser of the NDC, Haruna Iddrisu, who was present during the interview with Bugase.
He accused the NPP of using vehicles belonging to some district assemblies in the Upper East region for their campaigns. He specifically mentioned the Bongo and Bolgatanga district assemblies as the culprits and said this did not provide a fair playing field for the by-election.
Haruna was optimistic that the NDC candidate would emerge victorious to continue from where he left off after the 2000 elections. He said the NDC was on the ground quietly because, the party thought it morally wrong to go into a full swing campaign when the people of Navrongo were still mourning the death of the late Achuliwor. Surprisingly, the CPP has not fielded a candidate.