Ama Dokua lights fire in Okaikwei North

Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei

The sudden popularity of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate in the Okaikwei North constituency in the 2024 general elections is giving members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) sleepless nights.

Unable to stem the “burning fire” ignited by the young legislator, Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei, who left the Akropong seat to contest for Okaikwei North, the area where she grew up, the NDC leadership in the constituency has devised means to thwart her ambition to win back the seat for the NPP.

The Okaikwei North seat was one of the strongholds of the NPP until 2020 when the incumbent senator, Fuseini Issah, was defeated by the unsung NDC candidate, Theresa Awuni, making the constituency a battleground between the NPP and the NDC.

Criminal gangs have recently been vandalising the posters of the parliamentary candidates, while the people in the constituency, both young and old, are increasingly embracing Nana Ama Dokua’s vision for the area.

An NDC member believed to be a relative of MP Theresa Awuni has attempted to test the law on Nana Ama Dokua’s eligibility to contest the Okaikwei North seat. A petition challenging her right to vote in Okaikwei North has been filed by Kingsley Anyamasah, believed to be an NDC sympathiser, at the Electoral Commission (EC).

The appeal, filed through the EC’s official form, alleges that the parliamentary candidate is neither a resident nor an ordinary resident of the constituency. Reacting to the NDC’s ploy to get her out of the race, Nana Ama Dokua said: “My opponents are worried about my campaign approach. The way I am being received everywhere and even the various investigation reports in my favour sends shivers down their spines. In the beginning, they called thugs to create chaos during my programmes but the thug behaviour did not stop me.”

She explained that the reason for their protest stemmed from the failure of Theresa Awuni, the incumbent Member of Parliament, and that was why they had decided to protest against my right to vote in the area.

“It is unfortunate that my opponents refuse to be aware of the laws that govern our electoral process. I live in the constituency, I even grew up near Petroleum in North Achimota. I transferred my vote last year and I voted in the constituency elections last December,” she explained, adding that the petition against her is not about her eligibility as a candidate but about her eligibility as a voter.

A voter in the constituency, Charles Kpotivi, said: “We look forward to the confrontation between Nana Ama Dokua and the incumbent MP, Theresa Awuni, in one of the key battlegrounds on December 7, 2024.”