The Constituency, which covers Cantonment, Labone, La, parts of Osu, Burma Camp, 37 Military Hospital and its environs, is bordered by the Ayawaso East, Ayawaso West Wuogon, Klottey Korley, and Ledzokuku constituencies.
Considered as Accra’s second most affluent constituency, the coastal community has been largely dominated by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) since the beginning of the Fourth Republic.
Apart from the 2000 and 2016 elections, the Constituency always favoured the NDC in both parliamentary and presidential elections.
Like the Ledzokuku and Krowor constituencies, the La Dade-Kotopon Constituency has retained only one Member of Parliament (MP) beyond one term.
Political History
In 1992, the NDC’s Lemuel Nii Amon Kotei was elected the first MP of the Constituency under the Fourth Republic, and was replaced by Sylvester Adinam Mensah from the same Party in 1996.
The NDC, however, lost the Dade-Kotopon seat to the NPP’s Godfried Ako-Nai in 2000, and reclaimed it in the 2004 election as the seat swung in favour of Nii Amasah Namoale, who retained it for another two terms, becoming the only MP to have won the seat beyond one term.
Skirt and blouse
Unfortunately for Nii Amasah Namoale, he fell out with his constituents and lost the seat to the NPP’s Vincent Sowah Odotei in what was described as a “skirt and blouse” election in 2016, as the NDC dominated the presidential ballot in the Constituency by some 42,000 plus votes, representing 52.6 per cent of the presidential votes.
Many constituents still hold the belief that the NDC could have retained the Dade-Kotopon seat if Mr Namoale had stepped down and allowed a different candidate to contest the seat on the ticket of the Party in 2016.
Luck, however, smiled on the NDC in 2020 as the seat swung in favour of its parliamentary candidate, Rita Odoley Sowah.
Dominance or loyalty?
With less than 100 days to the 2024 elections, the La Dade-Kotopon Constituency will come under the rader as its voting pattern is brought to a test of dominance or loyalty to the NDC.
Incumbent Member of Parliament, Rita Odoley Sowah, is facing competition from NPP’s Joseph Addo for the La Dade-Kotopon seat.
While Madam Sowah is campaigning on the back of social interventions she has undertaken in the Constituency, Mr Joseph Addo, who is also President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo’s Driver, is leveraging social interventions by the government to snatch the seat.
Third force
As both Madam Sowah and Mr Addo slug it out, they are likely to face another competition as former NPP Member of Parliament for the area, Vincent Sowah Odotei has declared his intention to go independent.
For the electorate, the choice of who will be given the nod to represent the Constituency in the legislature next year will be determined by the myriad of unresolved issues in the Constituency.
That notwithstanding, loyalty will play a major role, but we wait for December 7.
GNA
