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The battle of Krowor: Agnes Naa Momo Lartey’s quest to reclaim the seat for the NDC

The opposition National Democratic Congress go into the 2020 general elections with a minority in Parliament. The NDC’s current 106 seats is a complete shift from its majority of 148 in the 2102 general elections.

Agnes Naa Momo Lartey

Their overwhelming defeat in 2016 culminated in the party losing so many seats they have traditionally won. One of these seats is the Krowor Constituency in the Greater Accra Region. The NDC has won it four times to the NPP’s three.

But Agnes Naa Momo Lartey is on a quest to wrestle back the seat they won in 2008 and 2012 and consolidate the NDC’s hold of the constituency in the December 7 polls.

After honing her political skills at the secondary and tertiary levels of education, Naa Momo entered the national fray of partisan politics in 2000. A journey that has seen her become a leader of women groups to being an assembly woman and to the position of a presiding member of the Krowor Municipal Assembly.

Though for a lot people, politics has been a career choice they start preparing for at a young age. Agnes Lartey’s journey is entirely different and she describes it as just fate. “It might interest you to know that the people that actually pushed me into the political limelight are my fish mongers at the coast. Initially it was a like a challenge so they dared me to contest for a managerial role at the Municipal Assembly since I was always talking to them about leadership.”

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Despite not getting the role as the MCE, the support the fisherfolk gave her spurred her on to continue to strive to make their living conditions and the people in Krowor as a whole better. It is on this mantra that she has availed herself again to represent them in Parliament on the ticket of the NDC.

Naa Momo Lartey narrowly lost the 2016 parliamentary election to Elizabeth Afoley Quaye of the NPP in 2016. With just over 2,000 vote difference, she reckons this year there will be a change in the fortunes of the umbrella family.

On how she plans to scale the tips in her favour this time? The candidate said she has identified some challenges of the people in Krowor to which she is determined to fix if she wins. “Krowor has a very youthful population and you have a lot of them unemployed. That is a major challenge as leads them to engage in many vices. Most of the youth in the constituency are idle and as the saying goes, the devil finds work for the idle. This is something I will work if I win on December 7.”

Sanitation has been a challenge in most of the inner cities in Accra and communities across the country. This peculiar problem is prevalent in Krowor and Naa Momo Lartey says it is something she is already working on with the constituents and will do more if she becomes the MP. “We are partnering with sanitation collection companies as well engaging in behavioral change education with the people. The people need to understand the implication of not keeping your surroundings clean and that will go a long way in helping solve some of the problems.”

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Sticking to her political origins of women empowerment, gender issues will be at the forefront of a Naa Momo administration should she win. “Prior to coming into politics, I was actually supporting women to get into management positions. I am an advocate for women rights and I will make sure women get into positions they deserve in society. I still work with women along the coast and I get happy when I see them taking up positions in their various trading groups.”

Infrastructural development has dominated the national political scene over the past few months. Both the NDC and the ruling NPP have claimed to possess the superior record in this regard. But for Naa Momo Lartey, the massive infrastructure the ruling government said it has embarked on across the country is not evident in the Krowor Constituency.

“The way the NDC left the roads in 2016 are still the same in the constituency and in fact they are in worse states. Sometimes you see some patches being done, you see them today and tomorrow if you check they are bad.”

“The year of roads we are yet to actually see it. Sometimes you see things people do which is actually to deceive the electorates when elections are close. Cutting sods to expand roads is not a new thing because we in the NDC don’t go round with a pickaxe cutting sods at every opportunity. Construct the roads and let the people feel it and not just cutting sods.”

On why she thinks she will lead the NDC to win back Krowor, Naa Momo Lartey said: “I think so far, the people that have shown interest to contest, there is none that towers above me. When you look at my qualifications, experience and above all the favor of the Lord upon my life, I believe that I stand tallest. I have been working with the people and they know the heart I have for them; it is a heart of gold!”

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