𝗗𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗼’𝘀 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗕𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗗𝗖 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗧𝗼 𝗪𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝗨𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟴, 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

𝗕𝘆: 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗝𝗮𝗳𝗼 𝗔𝗸𝘂𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂 [𝟬𝟮𝟰𝟳𝟬𝟭𝟵𝟬𝟵𝟵; 𝗮𝗸𝗷𝗮𝗳𝗼@𝗴𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺]⁣

The National Democratic Congress in the Damongo Constituency faces a problem that slogans cannot solve. The party still has a substantial electoral base, but it has not converted that base into parliamentary victory since 2020. The warning is plain: presidential loyalty alone will not win the parliamentary seat. A party that wants to reclaim the Damongo seat must begin the work long before party nominations opens, long before posters flood the streets, and long before candidates start making hurried visits to communities that they ignored for years.

The available election results tell a story that deserves serious attention. The NDC has a history of parliamentary victories dating back to the former Damongo/Daboya Constituency, where Hon. Sammy B. Wusah won the 2008 election with 12,450 votes. Following the creation of the separate Damongo Constituency in 2012, Hon. Adam Mutawakilu won the seat and retained it in 2016. However, the political landscape changed in 2020 when Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor of the New Patriotic Party defeated Mutawakilu, polling 15,671 votes against his 13,330. The 2024 election produced a similar outcome, with Jinapor retaining the seat with 16,222 votes, while Mutawakilu secured 14,425. The difference of 1,797 votes meant that the NPP held the constituency for a second consecutive term. These successive defeats should prompt serious reflection within the NDC, particularly on its parliamentary strategy, candidate development and constituency-level organization.

The more revealing fact lies in the presidential figures. In 2024, John Dramani Mahama won 18,195 votes in Damongo constituency, representing 59.60 percent of valid votes. Mahamudu Bawumia, the NPP presidential candidate, polled 12,055 votes, or 39.49 percent. In the parliamentary race held on the same day, the NDC fell to 14,425 votes while the NPP rose to 16,222. The difference between Mahama’s local presidential vote and Mutawakilu’s parliamentary vote was 3,770 ballots. That gap is not a minor statistical detail. It is evidence that a sizeable number of voters were prepared to support the NDC for president but chose another candidate for Parliament.

That distinction should ring loudly in the ears of NDC leadership in Damongo constituency and Savannah Region as a whole. The party has a political foundation in the constituency. It has a presidential vote that can carry a candidate close to victory. What it lacks is a sustained parliamentary operation capable of persuading voters to make the second choice on the ballot. The challenge is therefore not merely to repeat the NDC label or rely on memories of former victories. The challenge is to present a parliamentary candidate whom voters know, trust, respect and can associate with practical service.

The constituency’s history makes complacency especially dangerous. A party that held a seat for two consecutive election cycles can easily mistake inherited loyalty for permanent ownership. That is how political strongholds decay. Voters may retain affection for a party while growing uncertain about its local organization, its candidate and its commitment to the constituency. When that happens, a disciplined opponent can occupy the space. The NPP has done precisely that since 2020, and Abu Jinapor has had the advantage that comes with being a sitting Member of Parliament, a nationally visible politician.

The NDC must also begin to consider the possibility that Hon. Adam Mutawakilu, who is the best bet may not contest the 2028 parliamentary election. Although there is no official confirmation of his intentions, the party should not wait for him to make a final decision before thinking about its next move. With the parliamentary candidate yet to be elected, this is the time to pay attention to other credible individuals who may be interested in contesting the seat. Such individuals should have enough time to engage with constituents, understand the concerns of the various communities and build relationships with the people. Whether Mutawakilu decides to contest again or not, the party must approach the 2028 election with proper preparation rather than leaving everything until the parliamentary primaries draw closer.

If Hon. Mutawakilu decides contest again, the party still needs early preparation. If he decides not to contest, the need becomes an urgent one.

Political marketing, properly understood, is not the shallow distribution of branded T-shirts or the display of political rallies. It is the patient work of giving constituents reasons to remember a candidate and believe that the candidate understands their needs. It requires a clear public record, regular community engagement, accessible communication and a disciplined response to local concerns.

Research on candidate recognition offers an important lesson. Simply making a candidate’s name familiar to voters does not necessarily translate into electoral support. A 2025 study by political researchers found little evidence that merely exposing voters to the names of political challengers, even alongside their party affiliations, increases their chances of gaining support. This does not take away the importance of early engagement. Rather, it shows that visibility alone is not enough. Voters need to know more than a candidate’s name or recognise their face. They need to understand what the person stands for, what they have done and what they can bring to the constituency. Early engagement must therefore be built around genuine interaction, a record of service and a clear understanding of the issues affecting the people.

This is why the NDC should not reduce the matter to finding a popular person. Popularity without good strategies put in place can collapse under pressure. A serious candidate must be able to build a constituency-wide network that includes polling-station executives, electoral-area coordinators, youth leaders, women’s groups, religious voices, traditional authorities and community influencers. The candidate must understand where the party is strong, where it is weak, which communities feel neglected and which voters support the presidential ticket but remain unconvinced about the parliamentary choice.

The 2024 figures offer the party an unusually useful map. President Mahama’s 18,195 votes show the upper boundary of the NDC’s local presidential appeal in that election. Hon. Adam Mutawakilu’s 14,425 votes show what the parliamentary campaign converted. The difference between those figures should become a subject of serious constituency research. Were some voters dissatisfied with the candidate? Did they prefer the incumbent’s visibility or personal assistance? Did the NDC fail to communicate its parliamentary message well? Were there weaknesses in polling-station mobilization, community outreach, internal unity or election-day coordination? Without honest answers, the party will repeat the same campaign and hope for a different result.

The NDC’s 2023 parliamentary primary also offers an important lesson about preparation and internal competition. Adam Mutawakilu won the contest with 483 votes out of 798 valid votes cast, while his closest contender, Baba Sadique Zankawah, secured 315 votes. Four ballots were rejected. Following the declaration of the results, both candidates expressed their willingness to work together towards reclaiming the parliamentary seat in the 2024 general election. That spirit was valuable, but a primary held close to a general election cannot replace years of candidate development. A party should identify potentials early, encourage constructive competition, and make unity begin before the primary rather than after wounds have deepened.

The argument for starting now is not an argument for premature division. The NDC can discourage open campaigning that breeds factionalism while still building a transparent process for candidate recruitment. The Damongo constituency leadership can invite credible party men and women, organise policy conversations for them to demonstrate their capacities. They can assess candidates against clear standards such as integrity, availability, local knowledge, communication, fundraising capacity, respect for internal democracy and the ability to unite the party after a primary.

Waiting until later 2027 or 2028 creates several avoidable problems. It compresses voter education into a few months. It gives the incumbent more time to define the political conversation. It leaves late candidates scrambling to put resources together and introduce themselves to constituents. It also increases the risk that internal competition will become a bitter contest between unfamiliar personalities rather than a healthy selection among tested party people. The party then spends valuable campaign time repairing internal damage instead of persuading undecided voters.

The NPP’s hold on the Damongo seat should not be mistaken for an irreversible political shift. The 2024 presidential result proves that the NDC remains capable of winning the Damongo constituency at the top of the ticket. The parliamentary result proves that capability does not transfer automatically. Abu Jinapor’s victory should be respected as a political achievement, studied as a campaign outcome and challenged through effective organization rather than resentment. A sitting MP who remains visible, accessible and active will always make the challenger’s task harder. That is the basic arithmetic of incumbency.

The NDC must therefore replace the culture of electoral awakening with a culture of permanent constituency work. Its potential candidate should be seen in the communities, not as a stranger introduced by a convoy. The candidate should be discussing education, roads, agriculture, jobs, health, water, land, local enterprise and the concerns people raise in ordinary conversations. The party should document those engagements, follow up on them and build a record that voters can judge. The candidate should become familiar before asking for power, not familiar only because the election is close.

There is also a moral reason for this approach. Parliamentary representation is not a prize reserved for whichever party has the stronger national wave. It is a responsibility to the people of Damongo Constituency. Voters deserve candidates who have prepared to serve and parties that take their concerns seriously between elections. When a party disappears after defeat and returns only when nominations open, it communicates the wrong lesson: that the people matter most when their votes are needed. The NDC must show the opposite through consistent presence.

The next election will not be won by panic, nostalgia or the assumption that a presidential victory will carry every parliamentary candidate along with it. It will be won by preparation. The NDC still has time to identify a credible candidate, test that candidate in the public, repair its local structures and learn from the 3,770-vote presidential-parliamentary gap recorded in 2024. Every month of inaction gives the incumbent another month to consolidate his advantage.

The message to the NDC leadership is direct. Begin the search now, if Hon. Adam Mutawakilu willnot be on the ballot. Do not wait for the nomination calendar to force the conversation. Do not treat the absence of a declared candidate as neutrality. In politics, an empty space is rarely left empty. Someone else occupies it, defines it and uses it to build loyalty. Damongo seat remains winnable for the NDC, but winnability is not a campaign strategy. The party must earn the seat again through a candidate who is known before the nominations and trusted before the nomination.

The baton will not be won by a runner who remains seated. The NDC in Damongo Constituency must understand this truth early and act on it with discipline if it hopes to reclaim the parliamentary seat in 2028.