The Dome Kwabenya Constituency Fact Checker has noted with considerable interest some claims being made by the incumbent Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya, Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo, to the Dome Kwabenya NPP delegates ahead of the Party’s parliamentary primaries. This was made sometime in January, 2024, and published online by thechronicle.com.gh.
The Constituency Fact Checker, having found the claims of Adwoa Safo to be factually inaccurate, hereby exposes these inaccuracies and sets the records straight.
Claim 1:
Adwoa Safo claims that she (as the Party’s Parliamentary Candidate) is always more appealing to the electorates of Dome Kwabenya than the Party’s Presidential Candidate, and that, this is reflected in the results of the general elections.
Verdict:
The Fact Checker confirms that in the last general elections (election 2020), Candidate Nana Akufo-Addo secured 78,467 votes (representing 60.58%) whereas Adwoa Safo secured only 75,041 votes (representing 58.35%). Adwoa Safo’s claim is therefore factually inaccurate and the data says it all.
Indeed, the data also shows that with Adwoa Safo as the NPP’s Parliamentary Candidate, the Party’s votes in Dome Kwabenya parliamentary elections have been declining sharply, a trend which is unusual when NPP wins the general election. In 2012 when she first contested, Adwoa garnered 63.75%. Then up to 67.9. %.
However, Adwoa’s popularity has now significantly declined, and in the last elections (2020), she only managed to secure 58% of the votes. While the President got 68%. There is therefore a cause for the NPP to be worried that Dome Kwabenya, which used to be one of the party’s strongholds is gradually slipping through their fingers and almost becoming a 50-50 constituency as between the NPP and the NDC.
Claim 2:
Adwoa Safo claims that upon becoming the party’s parliamentary candidate, she has moved the party’s parliamentary votes in 2012 from 35,000 votes to 78,000 votes in 2020.
Verdict:
The last time Prof Mike Oquaye represented the NPP was way back in 2008 when the total registered voters for the Constituency was only 94,495. He polled 35,321 votes. Adwoa Safo in the last general elections (2020) secured 75,041 votes NOT 78,000 as she is claiming.
Secondly, it is worth pointing out that the rise in the nominal figures is based on the fact that the voter population in Dome Kwabenya has significantly appreciated, moving from 94,495 in 2008 to 173,619 as at 2020, becoming the most populous constituency in the whole country.
So, the 75,041 votes Adwoa garnered in 2020 vis a vis the 35,321 votes garnered in 2008 (12 years earlier) can only be as a result of the significant increase in the voter population of the constituency. That is why the NDC votes also moved from 24,163 in 2008 to 52,262 in 2020. The critical matter is percentage and not numbers to hoodwink.
Everybody is entitled to their opinions, but when it comes to facts, there cannot be two sets of facts. You can play propaganda with everything [including playing sympathy or pity card], but when you try playing propaganda with facts, the data will expose you.
