The death of the Member of Parliament for the Ayawaso East Constituency, Mahama Naser Toure, has resurrected a controversial phenomenon.
It is the practice whereby wives of prospective or sitting members of Parliament are made to replace them.
With the late Mahama Toure’s wife, Hajia Amina Adam, declaring her intention to contest the resultant by-election to be held on March 3, 2026, on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ghana is witnessing a pattern which has spanned the past two and a half decades.
Call it ‘Widow MPs’. It refers to a situation where a spouse, often a widow, steps forward to contest and in all cases represent the deceased husband in Parliament.
While critics argue that their wins are sympathy-based, supporters see it as a legitimate pathway for women into a historically male-dominated political space.
The practice dates back to the year 2000, when Cecilia Gyan Amoah became the first widow in the history of Ghana’s politics to replace her late husband, Dr Philip Kofi Adjabeng Amoah, as the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Asutifi South after his sudden death just before the general election. She won the seat and served one term, setting a precedent that would resurface years later.
In 2016, Linda Obenewaa Akweley Ocloo, who is the current Greater Accra Regional Minister, emerged as the NDC’s candidate for Shai Osudoku following the death of her husband, Desmond William Ocloo, who had won the party’s primary before dying in a car accident. Though less dramatic in national impact, her candidature reinforced the idea that political parties were increasingly open to spousal succession during moments of crisis on who should be voted for.
The most high-profile example came in 2019 with Lydia Seyram Alhassan. Following the death of her husband, Emmanuel Boakye Agyarko, she contested and won the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election, beating John Dumelo under tense and heavily scrutinized circumstances.
Her subsequent re-election in 2020 strengthened the argument that widow candidacies are not always short-term sympathy projects, but their efforts can translate into sustained political careers.
The 2020 election year also produced two notable cases. Ophelia Kwansah Hayford who won the Mfantseman seat for the NPP after her husband, Ekow Kwansah Hayford, was killed during the campaign period. She resigned from the Ghana Police Service to contest the election.
That same year, Lydia Akanvariba Lamisi won the Tempane seat on the NDC ticket, succeeding her late husband, David Adakudugu, who had died in 2019.
Now, in 2026, Hajia Amina Adam’s declaration of interest in the Ayawaso East seat places her firmly within this trend. Her move is significant not just because of the constituency’s political weight, but because it signals how normalized widow candidacies have become within Ghana’s democratic process.
Beyond individual cases, the phenomenon of ‘Widow MPs’ raises broader questions about gender representation, party strategy, and voter psychology.
On one hand, it has undeniably opened doors for women who might otherwise face steep structural barriers in party politics. On the other, it exposes how political capital, name recognition, and sympathy can sometimes outweigh grassroots competition.
As Ayawaso East prepares for a by-election on March 3, voters will have to decide whether Hajia Amina Adam represents continuity, competence, or merely circumstance.
