Legal Practitioner, Baba Sadique Zankawah has officially announced his intention to contest for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary primaries to be held on May 13, 2023.

He will be contesting in the Damongo Constituency.

The seat is currently occupied by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor who took over from Adams Mutawakilu.

He made the announcement in a statement.

Read the full statement below:

Press Statement

22nd February 2023

All Media Houses

Declaration of Intent to Contest Parliamentary Primaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Damongo Constituency

Our help and collective victory as a Party resides with the Almighty Allah, the maker of heaven and earth.

Fellow Akatamansonians, noble delegates, Party Cadres, Elders, sympathisers, our friends from the media, ladies and gentlemen, with a heart filled with hope for our great party (the NDC), I bring you warm felicitations.

I also extend my profound gratitude and commendation to leadership and rank and file of our great party at all levels; branch, constituency, regional and national, for a successful reorganisation exercise so far. My special commendation is to leadership of the party in my beloved Damongo constituency for holding the party together even in the face of numerous challenges.

The past years and months in opposition have had me reflect soberly on the 2024 general elections and on the daunting task of recapturing the Damongo constituency seat from the deceptive NPP. In that process, I listened to many loud and silent voices of conscience in our great party that called for unity to rescue our lost parliamentary seat. I have prayed fervently about the task ahead of us and my utmost responsibilities as a parliamentary candidate.

I have also consulted widely with elders, executives, youth, women and the grassroots of our party across the Damongo Constituency as well as other interested parties. And having aggregated all these views and humble voices, I come to one conclusion- the voice of the people, which matter most, demands of my urgent service to our great Party now than ever before. I, Lawyer Baba Sadique Zankawah on that basis hereby solemnly declare my intention to contest the Parliamentary Primaries of the great National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Damongo Constituency.

Fellow Akatamansonians, the news of my intention to contest in the primaries has sent shivers
and shock waves through the spines of our arch opponents the NPP.

They pray the story was never true. But we are sorry to inform them that it is indeed true, that In Shaa Allah Lawyer Zankawah is coming and he shall prevail.

Ladies and gentlemen, my intention to contest the forthcoming primaries is not borne out of sheer pursuit of popularity or recognition or crave for relevance, but it is borne out of a strong desire to salvage the constituency and put it back on track for real development pursued by previous NDC regimes.

Damongo is the political and traditional capital of Gonjaland and with HE John Mahama as the President in waiting, losing the seat one more time is simply not an option.

Comrades, in embarking on this journey, my team and I are not oblivious of the humongous opposition that we are going to face both internally (Primaries) and externally (General elections). My team and I are well aware of the enormity of the sacrifice and risk even to our lives but the motivation to reclaim the seat far outweighs any impediment and risk.

Our forebearers have done it for us and we owe posterity that obligation.

Respected Comrades, in charting this course, I together with my team have done a thorough and painstaking diagnosis and analysis of factors that led to our loss of the seat and we shall be sharing the details of our thoughts with you as we engage you one-on-one.

Suffice it to say that we have a firm idea as to how we can overcome our dwindling fortunes.

Fellow Akatamansonians, ladies and gentlemen, my overall vision is to see a more united party and shall thus pursue and vigorously provide an option that will prioritise unity within and among the ranks and file of the Party; I shall focus on mending the cracks and building bridges. This may require the involvement of external support and even conflict experts.

I shall spearhead and facilitate an all-inclusive environment that will identify, encourage and motivate the active participation in the affairs of the Party by all identifiable groups of the Party within the constituency, namely; Party elders, Cadre group, women groups the youth front among others.
I shall also aggressively pursue resource mobilization to help facilitate the effective operation of the party machinery.

Ultimately, I promise to initiate and pursue an NDC-Care and reward system with the objective to identify and reward hard work through an equitable and fair system. This will effectively deal with the feeling of neglect and apathy.

Respected Comrades, I bring onto the table leadership of vision, of hope, of servantship, of tolerance, of forbearance, of selflessness, of reconciliation and of inclusiveness.

Follow Comrades, I am happy to announce to you that there is enormous confidence in my bid and there are dozens of NDC faithful who hitherto were on the fence that now eagerly wait for me to get the nod of delegates so they can join the fight. Thus, my Parliamentary Candidature assures the unleashing of unprecedented energy and participation which will ultimately do the trick.

Respected Comrades, it may be apt at this juncture to give a gist of who the personality of Lawyer Baba Sadique Zankawah is. I come into this contest as the proverbial ‘Kapok Tree’ whose roots and buttresses are deep and extensive, extending across the length and breadth of the Constituency and beyond.
Originally, I hail from Larabanga but born and bred in Canteen with ancestral roots in Ngbaripe-Damongo (specifically the Dua-pe Clan). My ancestral roots further extend to Busunu, Murugu, Mognori and even Daboya.

Linguistically, I can be described as a polyglot. I speak Kamara, Gonja, Hanga, “Canteen Housa”, Wale/Dagaari, and Mampruli. I also understand and fairly speak Frafra, Dagbani, Twi among others. In terms of education, I had my elementary education at Canteen L/A Primary/Middle School- Canteen; Secondary education at Damongo Secondary School,- Damongo; and attended several tertiary institutions including, the University Johannesburg, South Africa; University of Ghana, Lagon; Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana and the Ghana School of Law, Makola Accra. By way of profession, I am a Barrister at Law (Barrister & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana) and a Radiographer, with expertise in several other areas.

Respected Comrades, my political activism and affiliation to the NDC dates back to the revolution era when as a teenager I was an active member of the Democratic Youth League of Ghana (DYLG), the youth wing of the then committee for the Defence of the Revolution (CDR) and transitioned into the Varenda Boys and Girls, also a youth group in the early stages of the NDC.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is worth mentioning that I have been an unalloyed supporter and loyal member of the Party since 1992 and have contributed (financially, materially, and intellectually) to the course and well-being of the Party in Damongo constituency most especially, from 2007 till date. I actively supported and participated in every electioneering campaign since 2008. Very recently I supported the Party with close to 300 plastic chairs.

Over the period, I have served the lager party in some significant roles. Currently, I am a member of and Secretary to the Savannah Regional Disciplinary Committee of the Party and also a member of the Savannah Regional Political and Strategy Committee.

Further, I am a member and the incumbent President of the Professional Forum of the NDC (Proforum), Savannah Regional Chapter and also member of the NDC Legal Team and Coordinator of the NDC Lawyers in the Savannah Region.

In the last regional executive elections, I served as a committee member of the National Vetting Committee and was assigned to the North East Region.
My relationship and dealings with individuals and Party have always been influenced solely by the overriding interest of the Party and not by my whims and caprices nor that of any other individual.
I have resisted many temptations and calls to contest the Damongo constituency seat knowing when we had an incumbent MP whom we all needed to keep supporting to retain the seat in the collective interest of the party.

Even when I contested for the District Chief Executive on two consecutive times (in 2009 and 2013) but was unsuccessful on both occasions, I never became discouraged in my loyalty and support to the party.

Not even when a petition was maliciously written against my DCE bid could shake my loyalty nor demotivate me from supporting the party. I continued to give off my very best of resources, support and physical presence over the period to ensure that the Damongo seat is always that of the NDC, but unfortunately, we lost the seat in the 2020 elections to the NPP.

Fellow Comrades, ladies and gentlemen, a campaign based on issues and the many success stories of our great party shall guide my Team’s discourse in this endeavour. Thus, I pledge to embark on and lead a ‘Green Campaign’ devoid of insults, petty name -calling and mudslinging. I call on whoever intends to participate in the process to do same in the spirit and interest of party unity.

Let’s be reminded that this is just but a family affair and we need to emerge much stronger than ever before to enable us recapture the Damongo seat.

An NDC MP from Damongo must be sworn-in alongside HE John Dramani Mahama come 7th January 2025, In Shaa Allah. The choice is yours to get results with Lawyer Baba Sadique Zankawah.

I appreciate the groundswell of support, love and prayers from the grassroots of the party throughout out our consultation process .The enthusiasm of the ordinary party members for change gives me hope that we can win the Damongo constituency seat and by extension the general election and form the next government. In Shaa Allah!

As the window of picking nomination forms is open today, I humbly declare to you that I shall be picking my form, our form. To the delegates, our team shall be knocking at your doors to help us endorse the from, we pray for your cooperation. We cannot walk this journey alone; we need everyone on board. Our cherish delegates we need your vote, our rank and file, friends and affiliates, we need your support, party elders and the public at large we need also your support, your good counsel and most importantly your prayer as we embark on this journey.

I take this opportunity to thank friends who offered to purchase the nomination but preferred to remain anonymous.
Respected Comrades, our vision as espoused above is encapsulated in the Greater Damongo Agenda (GREDA), the tenets of which we shall be sharing with you in the coming days. It is about you; it is about us.

Eye Zu, Eye Za
God bless our homeland Ghana.
God bless the great National Democratic Congress Party.
God bless Damongo constituency.

Thank you.

-SGN-

Baba Sadique Zankawah Esq
(Parliamentary Candidate hopeful for the NDC)
Tel: 0244707602

Kun Faya Kun!