One of the parliamentary seats that will be hotly contested in the Northern Region in the parliamentary election is Lawra in the Upper West Region.
The incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Lawra, Anthony Karbo, in 2016 won the seat after an aggrieved member of the NDC contested as an independent candidate, due to deep-seated internal wrangling among the file and rank of the party in the constituency, thereby splitting the votes of the NDC parliamentary candidate, Bede Ziedeng.
Samson Abu contested for the seat as an independent candidate while Bede Ziedeng contested for the ticket of the NDC and with both of them coming from the NDC, their votes were split to favour Anthony Karbo.
Anthony Karbo polled 8,704 votes, Bede Ziedeng had 7,476 votes and Samson Abu polled 5,651 votes representing 38.49%, 33.06%, and 24.99% respectively.
The rank and file of the NDC said it had united against the NPP, therefore, there was no way Anthony Karbo will win the Lawra parliamentary seat in 2020.
The NDC said it has learned bitter lessons from 2016 and coming back strongly as a united force to take back the seat from the incompetent Anthony Karbo, who opportunistically snatched the seat.
Earlier, Bede Ziedeng said Anthony Karbo became the MP for the Lawra constituency by default.
The veteran politician alleged that Anthony Karbo upon realising his obviously looming defeat in the 2020 December polls, has become very desperate and deceptive.
Buttressing his point, he explained that Anthony Karbo is claiming every milestone chalked by the Lawra Municipal as his and that he [Karbo] appears confused about the work of a Member of Parliament and that of a Municipal Assembly.
He pointed out that the Dikpe Bridge which Karbo promised to construct is only being used as a propaganda tool as nothing is currently going on there.
He added that his experience and records have shown that, he can better serve the people of Lawra as their MP and urged the people of Lawra to vote for him as MP and John Mahama for development.
Bede Ziedeng a veteran politician who has played various roles in the NDC.
The incumbent MP, Anthony Abayifaa Karbo has also called the bluff of those labeling him as a one-term Member of Parliament saying that his record in government and the legislature will make him retain the seat in the upcoming 2020 polls.
According to him, the people of Lawra are discerning and will compare his record with his opponents who had similar opportunities and vote to retain him as a legislator.
From 1996 to 2004 the Lawra seat has been the stronghold of the NDC.
The NPP won it in 2008 but the NDC went ahead to it in 2012 until it lost it to Anthony Karbo but the party is poised to win the seat back-to-back in the 2020 polls.
In the 2012 elections, Samson Abu represented the people of Lawra in Parliament and lost to Bede Ziedeng in the NDC primaries prior to the 2016 elections.
The Lawra constituency is an interesting constituency to watch in the impending polls, considering the fact that Anthony Karbo is a deputy Minister of Roads and Highways and is largely leveraging incumbency against the now united NDC gurus who are coming for political revenge against the NPP.