Ramatu Aku Adotey sits comfortably in front of a small shop she owns. She sells water and other confectionaries. She is fifty five years old. She is attending to a gentle man who has come to seek her advice in his bid to be elected as an assemblyman. Rightly so, because Ramatu seems to be a successful assembly woman in the South Dawenya electoral area in the Ningo Prampram constituency and she is only a form four leaver
She proudly dishes out her pieces of advice to the gentleman. Ramatu herself is running for the second time in this electoral area. But she is going unopposed. In her confident and articulate tone she tells me her works speak for themselves.
“I have performed well to the best of my ability. Simply because when I came into office there was a heap of refuse and we have been able to clear it. There was a propose police station for Afienya and we intervened that it should be diverted to Dawenya and the police station was constructed which I think is helping the people” She said.
Ningo Prampram constituency has 32 electoral areas. I am here in two of the areas South and the North Dawenya electoral areas in Citi Fm’s build up to the district assembly elections on March 3.These two electoral areas are separated by the main Dawenya Prampram road.
Ramatu seems to have won the hearts of the residents here as many of them have impressive things to say about her, like Maggie who owns a mini market here.
“She has really done well” She said “If she continues it will help. When we are in trouble she helps us. She has made sure that we don’t dispose off rubbish anyhow. She personally goes to sit by the refuse dump to make sure people do the right thing”
Nancy will also vote for Ramatu because “she organizes communal labour and when your husband treats you badly she intervenes to help. She calms us down and settles our disputes.”
But Tijani a “wanzam” who lives very close to Ramatu wants more. He wants Madam Ramatu to create jobs for the hundreds of Muslim youth who are unemployed.
“See our boys if you go some cocaine area they are there.” Tijani said “if you go bush they are there because there is no work. From there they come back and start stealing.”
The story is different at North Dawenya. There seem to be a lot of dissatisfaction. The incumbent here is Gabriel Apetey and he is being challenged by two other people. It appears he may be replaced. The major headache for the people here is the road from Dawenya which leads to Afienya. It is a very busy road. Trucks loaded with sand keep the road busy and dusty. The structures and houses along the roadside have all been painted with the red dust. People’s hair colours have changed from black to brown.
This development unfortunately for Gabriel is what will determine his fate on March 3.
Most of the people who speak to me are disappointed that Gabriel couldn’t pull strings to get the road constructed. Nakie is one of such people. She says she can’t wait to vote against Gabriel.
“The assembly man walks by all the time and he doesn’t care. Dust is what is killing us. People’s homes are all dusty. For me I think we need a change,” She said.
A few meters from where Naki sits is a famous taxi rank at Dwenya. They ply the Dawenya Afienya road. I can count about fifteen taxis here. The drivers are under a shed waiting for passengers. But beneath their calm nature is anger deep seated anger for the assembly man and the Member of Parliament E T Mensah.
To them voting in the district assembly elections is a total waste of time. They argue that members of parliament who they believe are better resourced have failed their constituencies and so they can’t trust assembly members. The result; they are not voting on March 3.
Their complaints are similar to Naki’s, the roads are bad and dangerous to drive on at night. Samuel for instance has spent all his money repairing his car because the road destroys it within a short time.
“The MP couldn’t help how much more an assembly man. They can’t fix this road so why should I waste my time on them.” Said Samuel “I will rather sleep than queue to vote. My blue cars didn’t last for two weeks on this road my bumpers have all been destroyed.”
While Ramatu Aku Adotey in South Dawenya will have a smooth victory come third of March Gabriel Apetey will be sitting on tenterhooks when the ballots are being counted.
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By: Betty Kankam-Boadu/citifmonline.com/Ghana