Road to Election 2024: Dormaa seats up for grabs

All three constituencies in Bono Region’s Dormaa areas have offered favourable reception to the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) over the years, despite Dormaa West swinging between the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in three elections.

The NDC’s Vincent Oppong Asamoah ousted the NPP’s Ali Maiga Halidu from Parliament in 2020 in a successful comeback bid after he lost the 2016 election to the same opponent.

The parliamentary race in the constituency had begun between the same two opponents in 2012 when Mr Asamoah clinched it with nearly 2,000 votes difference. That is how much the two figures had dominated the parliamentary political contest in the constituency after Dormaa West was carved off Dormaa Central 12 years ago.

When they were together as one Dormaa Central Constituency, former Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, was among the dominant figures in the constituency, capturing the seat in 2008 before the split in 2012.

Mr Agyeman-Manu continues to hold on to the separate Dormaa Central seat, and seeks a fifth term in the legislature in December this year. Having achieved a victory margin of more than 8,000 votes in 2020 after managing to drag himself over the line in 2016 with a relatively modest margin of less than 3,000 votes, the former Health Minister now looks a formidable candidate going into the 2024 elections.

Mr Agyeman-Manu had defeated the NDC’s Vincent Oppong Asamoah in 2004 and 2008 for the Dormaa Central seat, and it was only after the Dormaa West Constituency was created in 2012 that Mr Oppong entered the legislature through that path.

In December, Mr Agyeman-Manu comes up against John Adu Jack of the NDC who replaces Gordon Asubonteng, the party’s previous candidate. Mr Adu Jack was the candidate who had given Mr Agyeman-Manu a good fight in 2016 although he eventually suffered a fate too familiar with the party in the constituency.

Mr Adu Jack stages a comeback as he steps into Mr Asubonteng shoes for the December polls, with the NDC counting on their man’s previous showing to attempt to wrest the seat from the incumbent former minister.

The NDC has not won the seat since it relinquished it in 2000 when Yaw Asiedu Mensah defeated Thomas Kwame Yeboah to topple the NDC MP from the legislature. Since then, all efforts of the party to recapture the seat has failed.

While they seek to capture new grounds in the Dormaa area, the NDC will be wary of the NPP’s own onslaught on the Dormaa West seat. The Incumbent, Mr Oppong Asamoah, clinched the seat with less than 2,000 votes margin in 2020, just as he had won it in 2012. When he lost it in 2016, it was with only 291 votes.

While the figures favour the NDC, the close contest leaves it in a delicate balance, particularly as the two parties seek clear dominance in the hung Parliament.

Dormaa East

In the third of the Dormaa constituencies, Dormaa East has proven a safe and comfortable seat for the incumbent NPP. The party has won the seat since 2000 when Stephen Adoma-Yeboah ousted the NDC’s Nicholas Adjei-Kyeremeh from the legislature.

Yaw Ntow Ababio, also of the NPP stock, succeeded Mr Ababio in 2004 and retained the seat in 2008, as the governing party continued to dominate the politics of the constituency.

A new name, William Kwasi Sabi, took over the mantle in 2012 and 2016 for the NPP, while the NDC went from Ali Adjei Ibrahim in 2012 to Frank Kumi in 2016. With the NPP maintaining a general margin around 6,000 votes on their main contenders in the constituency’s parliamentary race, they have left the NDC with a mountain to climb to see the top of the parliamentary seat.

The biggest opposition party maintains Rachal Owusua as candidate for the 2024 polls against the incumbent and the man who defeated by over 5,000 votes in 2020. Ms Owusua’s showing might have encouraged her party to keep faith with her as they tackle the difficult terrain one more time.

Incumbents’ profile: Kwaku Agyeman-Manu

Kwaku Agyeman-Manu is a four-time Member of Parliament, having first won parliamentary seat in 2008 on the ticket of the NPP. Even after the Dormaa West Constituency was peeled off the Dormaa Central Constituency, he has maintained his place in the legislature at the three subsequent elections.

Born on September 6, 1955, he is an Associate Member, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, and holds a first degree in Economics and Statistics. He is a former Deputy Chief Accountant of the MIM Timber Co. Ltd, and former Director of Finance of Toyota Ghana Co. Ltd.

Currently, he is a member of the Members Holding Office of Profit Committee and the Education Committee.

Vincent Oppong Asamoah

The 58-year-old Vincent Oppong Asamoah holds a first degree in Social Work and an Executive Master’s degree in Public Administration. He has also worked at OLAM Ghana Limited before venturing into politics.

He is an experienced politician with years of competitive engagements in the parliamentary race, including the 2016 polls when he lost the seat by just 291 votes margin. He has twice worked as a chief executive at the Dormaa Municipal Assembly.

Currently, he is the Ranking Member on the Works and Housing Committee and a member of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Committee of Parliament.
He is a two-term MP.

Paul Twum-Barima

In January 2022, the MP for Dormaa East, Paul Apraku Twum-Barima, was adjudged the best first-time MP in the current Parliament. That honour, conferred by Watch Parliament, a civil society organisation, was said to be based on his contributions on the floor of Parliament, his engagements in the media, and contributions at committee level, among others.

Born on May 23, 1982, he holds a first degree in Social Science and a second degree in Communications. He has worked with ENI Ghana, the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (now the Northern Development Authority), ZEN Petroleum, the British High Commission, among other private entities.