They were the current Deputy Minority Leader in Parliament, Ambrose Dery, for the New Patriotic Party (NPP); Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, now Minister of the Interior, for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and Bede Ziedeng, the General Secretary of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP).
The contest generated so much interest that national attention was focused on Lawra–Nandom.
Today, the situation has shifted to the Nadowli West Constituency, where the entry of Dr Boye Bandie, a development consultant and lecturer at the University for Development Studies (UDS), Wa Campus, has raised the stakes so high that it is said that the decision of Dr Bandie is sending shivers down the spines of supporters of the NDC.
Dr Bandie was elected unopposed as the parliamentary candidate for the NPP at the weekend to challenge the incumbent NDC Member of Parliament for the area and Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin.
Mr Bagbin has since 1993 made mince meat of all opposition, particularly NPP candidates.
Having enjoyed massive support from the people, Mr Bagbin beat Dr Daniel Bagah, then Dean of the Wa Campus of the UDS, in 2004 and repeated the dose with cheeky ease in 2008 over Wing Commander Eric Dakurah (retd).
Despite those victories, political analysts believe that this time round, Mr Bagbin will be given a good run. This is because of Dr Bandie’s contribution to the development of the area through his non–governmental organisation (NGO), the Sustainable Integrated Development Services Centre (SIDSEC), of which he is the Executive Director.
In an interaction with the Daily Graphic in Wa, Dr Bandie said his vision was for the NPP to become the party of choice in the constituency and convincingly win the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections there through co-ordinated action and the participation of all key stakeholders in the campaign process.
“I will inject fresh and progressive ideas into the constituency development agenda and also promote unity, peace and harmony among the people,” he added.
He called on the people to support him to change the face of politics in Nadowli West and added that the time had come for a new face to represent the constituency at the national level.
Born 50 years ago, Dr Bandie had both his Ordinary and Advanced level General Certificate of Education (GCE) at the Tamale Secondary School between 1972 and 1979, after which he pursued Bachelor of Science in Development Planning at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), completing successfully in 1985.
Just before he completed his national service, he was offered a two–year scholarship by the German government to pursue further studies, which took him to Dortmund in 1987 where he pursued a one-year programme in Regional Development Planning and Management.
He returned to Ghana and pursued a master’s degree programme in Development Planning and Management at KNUST in 1989. From there, he enrolled with the Centre for Development Studies at the University of Cape Coast to pursue a doctorate programme, completing and being awarded the degree in 2003.
Dr Bandie was also once a member of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the Nadowli District Assembly.
In his desire to support basic education in the district, he established SIDSEC in 1999, a local NGO which is presently engaged in infrastructural improvement, school feeding, the provision of teaching and learning materials, income-generation for women and capacity building for teachers and school management structures.
Dr Bandie has also worked with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development as a team leader and development planning advisor for the local government development project (URBAN III) for the Wa, Bolgatanga and Bawku municipal assemblies.
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