WHO'LL JIRAPA NEXT MP?...NDC's Dakura or NPP's Dakorah (LEAD STORY)

THE ‘battle’ of the ‘Dakoras’ will take place in the Jirapa Constituency in the Upper West Region tomorrow when Dr France Bawaana Dakura of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) locks horns with his name sake, Mr Justin Dakorah of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), in a by-election to find a replacement for the vacant parliamentary seat.
The other candidate, Ms Joyce Angsiema, who is contesting on the ticket of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), is only adding to the numbers, as her candidature is not being felt at all as a result of what she claims to be lack of support from her party.
That notwithstanding, the odds seem to favour the NDC candidate. However, the NPP candidate is very upbeat and determined to cause a stir and win the seat.
About 27,680 eligible voters are expected to decide the fate of the two leading candidates in the election to be conducted in all 105 polling centres in the constituency.
Since the 1992 general election, the constituency has been a no-go area for the NPP.
For instance, in the 2004 elections, the NDC obtained 15,000 votes, while the NPP had a little over 6,000. Things did not change much in the recently held 2008 elections as the NDC again had a little over 12,000 votes as against 6,000 for the NPP. That was in spite of the fact that the late MP, Edward Salia, was on sick bed and could not campaign.
That explains how deep the NDC is rooted in the constituency.
It is worth noting that the NPP had all along tried to use the name of the late Chief S. D. Dombo of Duori, a stalwart of the Danquah-Busia tradition, to whip up support from the people, yet nothing significant had come out of that.
With the exception of Duori, which is the home town of Chief Dombo, the NPP has not fared well in the other major towns in the constituency, such as Han, Jirapa, Chapuri, among others.
Even in the era of “Operation Restore Heritage” which was vigorously embarked upon by the NPP, it could not capture that powerful seat.
Several interactions with people in the constituency indicated that the late MP devoted his life to the development of the constituency.
They are of the opinion that during his tenure as the Minister for Transport, he opened up the constituency with good roads, making it perhaps one of the best connected areas in the Upper West Region.
Furthermore, the people believe that the only tribute they could pay to the late MP is to vote for the NDC candidate to continue from where Salia left off.
As of the time of filing this report, Jirapa was bubbling with party activities, with the NDC holding what it called the “Tsunami victory rally”.
For its part, the NPP decided to embark on a house-to-house campaign.
According to the NPP Upper West Regional Youth Organiser, Mr Hafiz Bin Salih, the party’s candidate had already marketed himself very well and was confident that he would get the nod of the people to represent them.
He called on the people to consider the development the NPP candidate brought to Jirapa when he was the district chief executive (DCE) for the area and vote for him.
For his part, the Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Caesar Kale, called on all NDC supporters nation-wide to start jubilating, since victory was a foregone conclusion.