4 parties chase Talensi seat

The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), the dominant opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), the People's National Convention (PNC) and the Progressive People's Party (PPP) are ready with their candidates for the bye-election slated for July 7, 2015.

For one thing, all the parties contesting the bye-election believe their candidates have what it takes to grab the Talensi seat.

The parties have described the by-election as a unique opportunity for them to capture the seat and go to Parliament.

While the NDC has a strong conviction that its candidate, Mr. B.T. Baba, 67, a retired Deputy Director General of the Ghana Prisons Service, can recapture the seat which, according to some NDC party faithful, "they gave to the NPP as a loan in 2012", the NPP also has confidence in Mr. Thomas Pearson Wuni, a 51-year-old accountant at the Nsawam Government Hospital, as the man who can convincingly win the seat for the party.

The PNC's Dr. Michael Wumbego, 43, a lecturer at the School of Allied Sciences and Head of Clinical Skills for the Schools of Allied Health and Medicine of the University for Development Studies (UDS), also wields some power for the PNC based on the fact that he stood on the ticket of the party in the 2008 and 2012 parliamentary elections. Although he lost in both elections, he came third in each of the elections so the PNC also believes in him.

The PPP's Mr. Joseph Toatoba, although a first timer, has the support of his party. Mr. Toatoba, 42, is a banker with the Bawku branch of the GN Bank which belongs to the party's founder, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom.

He is also a trained teacher. He is a graduate from the UDS - Nyankpala campus. If he is successful at the Talensi polls, he will become the first candidate of the party to enter Parliament, thus the party is throwing its weight behind him too. With the exception of Dr Wumbego of the PNC, the remaining candidates are coming on board for the first time.