All set for NDC congress as 70 candidates jostle for 23 positions
Seventy candidates, the highest ever in the history of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), will scramble for 23 positions Saturday in the 5th National Delegates Congress at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi.
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The fate of the candidates, however, hinges on the benevolence of 3,359 delegates made up of ministers, parliamentarians, DCEs, regional executives, constituency executives, founding fathers, Council of Elders and foreign delegates.
Saturday’s contestants exclude 28 from the youth and women’s wing elections, a segment of which still remains inconclusive.
A broad-base action plan has been put in place to streamline the electoral process and to ensure that the election which is the core business for the day does not spill-over into the following day.
Sequel to that, two crunch meetings— one between the Electoral Committee of the NDC and the Electoral Commission and the meeting with all the delegates —were held.
Among some of the agreed areas included the creation of six polling stations within the stadium, there will be no speeches by candidates to save time but solidarity messages from other political parties will be permitted.
Also on the agenda is the General Secretary’s report, speeches by the founding fathers and the leader of the party, President John Dramani Mahama.
The General Secretary, Mr Johnson Aseidu Nketiah, told journalists y the increase in the number of candidates indicated the buoyancy of the internal democracy of the party.
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As a prelude to the core business for the day, there will be considerations of proposed amendments of the party’s constitution, which basically would have to do with the restructuring of certain administrative organs of the party.
Among them is the likely expansion of the National Executive Committee (NEC) to include more members of parliament and regional representatives.
Meanwhile, the party has managed to pay part of the bills of the National Sports Authority (NSA), at the Baba Yara Stadium which owes the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for power to be restored for the next three days.
The two main generators at the 43,000 capacity stadium have been fuelled as backups in case of power cut.
Last minute sales of party paraphernalia at the main entrance of the stadium have been brisk while agents of candidates still jostle for space to position their posters.
Amakom, where the stadium is located has, no doubt, come alive as the mains streets have been flooded with party faithful enjoying loud speaker music dominated by a repertoire of the party’s jingles.