Parliamentary candidate in Odododiodio constituency under the ticket of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nii Lante Bannerman, has blamed his defeat in the 2020 general elections on the Farmer’s Day holiday.
Nii Lante Bannerman explained that the national holiday associated with Farmer’s Day, which fell on Friday, December 4, was moved to Monday, December 7, which happened to be the 2020 general election day.
According to him, he lost the elections because most of the traders and artisans in the party’s strongholds, such as Kantamanto and Okaishie, did not turn up in their numbers to vote.
He made this revelation during an interview on the Point Blank segment on Eyewitness News.
“Because it was a holiday, most people didn’t turn up. We couldn’t get the numbers that we expected. By and large, you can’t take away the fact that the holiday took away a chunk of our voters. Farmer’s Day is celebrated on the first Friday of December every year. In election years, the Farmer’s Day celebration is moved to the first Friday of November. However, the holiday for the farmers is maintained for the first Friday of December.
He further recounted, “In 2020, which was an election year, the celebration of Farmer’s Day moved to November. The election of 2020 was a holiday, and it affected me largely. I have many people who trade in the constituency—Okaishie, Kantamanto—they had gone back to their homes and were not around on election day. It’s largely the reason I lost the elections.”
Nii Lantei Bannerman said it would be wrong for the party to elect a fresh candidate to represent the party in the constituency, adding that he is the right person to secure the seat for the party.
“NPP needs a consistent parliamentary candidate to pursue this. NPP needs somebody to do it over and over again. Because the seat is not for us, that is what the party has done with me. The party, the people, they have nurtured me. They have been part of this journey, and we are on the verge of taking the seat. I don’t think it will be prudent to go into this election with a new candidate, it’s not possible,” the NPP parliamentary hopeful said.
He lost the election to the National Democratic Congress candidate Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, who was the incumbent before the elections.