Chairperson of the National Youth Working Committee of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Emmanuel Okai Mintah, has declared the Effutu seat winnable for the party in the 2028 general elections.
The youth activist made the remarks while addressing branch youth organisers and grassroots supporters in Winneba, in an energetic atmosphere charged with chants and party colours.
Speaking to the gathering, Okai Mintah challenged the youth to place themselves at the forefront of the NDC’s campaign in the constituency, insisting that victory in Effutu is possible with massive youth mobilisation and disciplined grassroots organisation.
“Effutu is not a fortress. It is a seat we can win, but only if our youth are ready and organised. Proper organisation wins elections and I can promise you that in 2028, we will organise and organise properly. We will bring Efutu under the umbrella” he told the gathering.
He drew inspiration from the role young people played in President John Dramani Mahama’s 2024 election victory, arguing that the same energy and structure, replicated at the constituency level, could deliver Effutu for the party.
“What our young people did for the flagbearer nationally, we must now do here in Effutu. It is the same playbook; organise early, organise widely, and never relent,” he said.
Okai Mintah also called for unity within the party’s ranks in the constituency, stressing that the NDC in Effutu must be prepared to work with whoever emerges as its parliamentary candidate, regardless of internal contests that may precede the polls.
Addressing suggestions that Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin cannot be unseated in Effutu, Okai Mintah pushed back firmly, describing the notion as a myth peddled to discourage the party’s supporters.
“Let nobody tell you Effutu cannot change hands. Other fortresses have collapsed before. Winneba has voted NDC before, and Winneba can vote NDC again,” he said.
The claim sits against a genuinely mixed electoral record. Effutu was held by the NDC’s Mike Allen Hammah for two stretches after 1992, first from 1996 to 2004, and again from 2008 to 2012, making it a competitive, frequently changing seat for much of the Fourth Republic. Afenyo-Markin unseated Hammahin 2012 with 53.6 percent of the vote, and has gone on to win the seat in every election since, including a commanding margin of over 20,000 votes in 2024.
Notably, Effutu was also one of only two constituencies in the Central Region that Mahama’s presidential ticket failed to carry in the 2024 sweep that returned him to office, with Bawumia edging Mahama there even as the NDC dominated the rest of the region. The seat’s history, in other words, supports Okai Mintah’s argument that Effutu is not permanently out of reach for the NDC, but it also underscores the scale of the organisational task he is setting for the party’s youth wing.
Okai Mintah reserved his sharpest criticism for Afenyo-Markin’srecent running battle with GoldBod Chief Executive Officer Sammy Gyamfi, accusing the Minority Leader of misdirecting public attention away from the real business of governance.
“Instead of engaging the substance of the work GoldBod is doing to formalise our gold trade and protect the country’s resources, the Minority Leader has chosen the path of personal attacks against Sammy Gyamfi and other young appointees of the NDC. he further stated that, the NDC youth will resist every politically motivated. That is misplaced. That is not leadership,” he said.
He argued that Afenyo-Markin’s conduct reflected a pattern of prioritising personal and partisan combat over constituency development, and that this pattern should inform how the people of Effutu assess his continued stay in Parliament.
“When you spend more time fighting a young public servant doing tremendous work at GoldBod than you spend fighting for the people of Effutu, you are telling the constituency where your priorities lie. That is precisely why he must be shown the exit in 2028,” Okai Mintah said.
He rounded off his address with a renewed call to the youth of Effutu to begin grassroots organising immediately, describing 2028 as a battle that would be “won on the ground, house to house, long before ballots are cast.”
