Dangme Land: The unacknowledged World Bank of the NDC

If I asked you which region in Ghana votes in huge numbers for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), you would be able to say Volta even before blinking. If I asked you which Constituency is the NDC’s World Bank, I could already see your lips forming the words Ketu South even before I completed my question. That is fair and expected. But what if I told you that the NDC has another World Bank which rarely gets the mention and recognition it deserves?

A world bank, in the Ghanaian political parlance, refers to a geographical area where a political party harvests the most votes. For the New Patriotic Party, that would be the Ashanti Region, based on the trends and vote patterns since Ghana returned to Democratic rule. And it is usual campaign rhetoric and aspiration to hear party actors vow to deplete the resources of one party’s ‘world bank’. The NDC in 2016 made a bold declaration that it would harvest 1 million of the votes from the NPP’s World Bank- Ashanti Region.

Often, politicians would say they would turn another party’s ‘world bank’ into a rural bank- an apparent reference to the attempt to make serious incursions into that party’s stronghold.

Because voters in the Volta and Ashanti Regions massively support one part at the polls, it is easy to say they are NDC and NPP strongholds respectively. However, the statistics show that there is another ‘region’ in Ghana that has consistently voted for NDC but which did not get the accolade.

Although it is currently not a region, in the proper sense of the word, the geographical area for my analysis could easily pass as a region based on the key denominators in other regions. The area under reference boasts 9 Constituencies- which is higher than the number of Constituencies in some of the newly created regions in Ghana.

This geographical area under reference, is Dangme Land. It is a stretch of land in both Greater Accra and Eastern Region but which is occupied by the same ethnic group- the Dangme. This is slightly different from what is popularly known as Ga-Dangmes.

The Dangme ethnic group has 7 clans, namely, the Klo (Krobo) of the Eastern Region, and the other 6 in the Greater Accra region comprising: Seh (Shai), Osu (Osudoku), Ningo, Ada, Gbugbla (Prampram) and Kpone. I must quickly add, that Kpone, is sometimes seen as a Ga ethnic group although legend has it that they speak the Ga dialect in the morning but by evening, they end up speaking Dangme.

Now these clans, represent Constituencies- 8 in all. In the Eastern Region, we have the Yilo Krobo, the Upper Manya and Lower Manya Constituencies. In the Greater Accra Region, we have the Shai Osudoku, Ningo Prampram, Sege, Ada and Kpone Katamanso. Kpone Katamanso may not ordinarily fit into a conversation about Dangme Constituencies because Katamanso is Ga land. However, the Kpone side of the Constituency, as I have discussed above, falls under Dangme.

My analysis could have stretched to add another Eastern Region Constituency- Asuogyaman, due to the presence of Dangme people in that area, but I recognize the fact that Dangmes are not as many in that Constituency of Akwamu land.

These 8 Constituencies, which I like to call ‘Dangme Region’, are on the eastern side of the Greater Accra region and the southern side of the Eastern Region. The majority of them are bordered by the Volta River- which partly explains their voting behaviour. They are the buffer between the NDC’s ‘ World Bank’ and the western side of Ghana from the Volta Region.

Since Democratic rule, these 8 Constituencies, have voted for the National Democratic Congress in the Presidential Election. And the votes have been handsome victories for the Akatamansonians. I recall how growing up in my village at Asutsuare Junction in the Shai Osudoku Constituency, the only house that had a poster of John Agyekum Kufuor and his elephant symbol representing the NPP was that of Mr. Affor, my class 3 teacher. We were almost certain, on Election Day, that the NPP may not get up to 10 votes at the polling station in my village.

The posters of Jerry John Rawlings and later, John Evans Atta Mills, both of the umbrella party of the NDC, were however very imposing on wooden windows and doors in every corner of the village. The love for the NDC founder, J. J Rawlings, was such that every helicopter that flew past was believed by villagers as carrying him enroute to the Asutsuare Military Camp.

Altogether, the 8 Constituencies had a total number of registered voters pegged at 548,814 in the 2020 general elections and the voter trend shows the NDC won them comfortably over the decades. That is easily, an NDC stronghold.

At the Parliamentary elections, all MPs from this region, since 1992, have been NDC. The only exception, was in 2016 when the Upper Manya Constituency, with capital at Asesewa, produced an NPP MP due to the deep cracks in the NDC at the time. As soon as those cracks were mended, the NDC took back the seat in 2020 with 54% of the total votes cast.

The fact that Dangme land has lots of commonalities with the Volta Region could account for the successes of the NDC in the area. The Volta River is a shared resource on which both Dangme and Ewe people fish, and use for irrigation. There are various inter-relations between the two blocs.

Former Shai Osudoku MP, Mike Afedi Gizo told me in an interview on #FaceToFace that despite the expansion of the area and the influx of people in the Constituency, it remains a solid NDC base.

Despite the huge numbers that these constituencies constantly churn out of the NDC, the area is not necessarily considered an NDC World Bank. The party has attempted in the past to ‘reward’ the Constituencies by appointing Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo of Kpone Katamanso, Mike Afedi Gizo of Shai Osudoku, Ebenezer Okletey Teye-Larbi of Lower Manya and Enoch Teye (E. T) Mensah of Ningo Prampram as Ministers.

But the fortunes of this ‘world bank’, in terms of developments have not been that impressive. The John Mahama NDC administration indeed put up a decent hospital in Dodowa- the Shai Osudoku District Hospital among other projects in the enclave, the overall effect shows that Dangme land is one of the poorest places in Ghana, despite its closeness to the seat of government and its importance to the NDC in particular.

For instance, the Shai Osudoku Constituency is named after two traditional authorities, but the road linking one part, Dodowa (the capital) to Osudoku (Osuwem, Asutsuare), the other part, is worse than what we call a rough road. The story is not any different in other Constituencies.

When the Ningo Prampram Constitueny/District was carved out of the then Dangme West District, it was among other things, meant to hasten the development of the new locality. However, many years on, the road connecting the old capital through Afienya to Dawenya and Prampram, is nothing to write home about.

The story in Krobo land, Kpone Katamanso Ada and Sege are similar, if not worse.

I am not big on the creation of new regions, but with former President Mahama’s recent promise to create the Kusag Region in the Upper East Region, I daresay Dangme land qualifies for a region, regardless of how many boxes are there to be ticked.

Even though the NPP has made inroads in the area, it appears the NDC will continue with its grip hold on the enclave for a while, and the least people from this unacknowledged world bank can ask for, is development from a future NDC government by way of appreciation for the decades of unshaken loyalty.

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NOTE: The writer Umaru Sanda Amadu is an award-winning Broadcast Journalist of high repute working with Channel One TV and Citi FM