For some constituents in Sekyere Afram Plains, joining a queue to vote in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections will amount to a waste of time.
Their reason is that decades of exercising their franchise, patriotically, has not brought any significant improvement in their lives and environment.
In our constituency watch series, I look at what will influence the vote of constituents in the December 7 election.
Classified as one of the deprived constituencies in the Ashanti Region, Sekyere Afram Plains is bedeviled with the absence of basic social amenities in most of its one hundred and sixty communities.
Aside the district capital, Drobonso, and few other communities, most of the towns are still challenged with access to electricity, healthcare, good road, and potable water.
The farming district was carved out of Sekyere Kumawu in 2012 to speed up development in the area, but some residents are not enthused about the pace.
As we prepare for the 2024 election, some constituents lament that the constant developmental neglect in the area is a good reason for them not vote.
“Here is like it’s not part of Ghana. It’s only in Drobonso that you will find good school, electricity and drinkable water. But when you go to the interior, you can’t even operate a school in the rainy season because teachers cannot go. There is no light as well. This honestly discourages people like me from voting because we don’t even know who to vote for to come and help us”, a resident, Elisha Maninjor Bimbi said in an enraged mood.
37-year-old smallholder farmer at Samsonkuraa, Musah Mohammed also indicated that, “I’ve now realized that, voting has no benefit to some of us. Politicians keep promising to fix our road, but nothing has been done to even improve it. I’ve decided not to vote this year”.
For others, they will only settle on a parliamentary candidate who is ready to lobby and bridge the development gap in the constituency.
“I now don’t care about any political party. I’ll analyze the message of the candidates and vote for the one who is ready to bring development to us”, a resident of Issakura, Michael Attah hinted.
Martin Amoah turned 18 this year and will vote for the first time. He appears excited being among those who will choose their next Member of Parliament and a leader for the country.
“I’m feeling happy to be part of those who will vote this year. I’m looking forward to the one who will get us potable water,” he said.
The National Democratic Congress’ Alex Adomako-Mensah has since the creation of the constituency won the seat until recently losing the party’s parliamentary candidate ticket to Hajia Nasira Afrah.
The 2020 parliamentary election saw the parliamentary candidate of the New Patriotic Party coming close to the seat though he lost by a margin of 156 against the incumbent.
But going into this year’s election; both the NDC and NPP are presenting new faces on the parliamentary ballot.
The constituents will decide whether they will retain NDC or give the NPP a chance this time.
