NDC aspirants struggle for endorsement in U/W
Ahead of Thursday’s closure of filing of nomination documents for the parliamentary primaries of the National Democratic Congress, some aspirants in the Upper West Region struggled for signatures for the required endorsement.
According to the Wa Central Constituency Secretary of the party, Mr Abdulai Abass, the deadline could beat a lot of aspirants because of the difficulty in raising the required endorsement signatures.
In the Wa Central Constituency in particular, he said it was no surprise to him that as of last Monday, just two out of five potential candidates had submitted their nomination documents.
Those two were the incumbent Member of Parliament, Dr Rashid Pelpuo and Accra-based legal practioner, Abdul Walid Bampuori Iddris.
The other three who had picked nomination forms include the deputy regional minister, Dr Mohammed Musheibu Alfa, and the Wa Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Nuhu Putiaha.
Impressive line-up
The line-up of aspirants in Wa Central makes the primary an interesting event, but signatures of one polling station executive in all of the over 120 polling stations in the constituency could prove the undoing of some aspirants.
"The information I am getting is that some of them are struggling to get the required endorsement. But let's wait and see what will happen," Mr Abass said.
The Wa Central Constituency has become a hotbed of political activities lately, with the entry of the Deputy Regional Minister, Dr Alfa and Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Putiaha and others all seeking to unseat Dr Pelpuo.
While Mr Bampuori Iddris remains the least known among the candidates, he boasts a profile as a long-standing member of the party since his days at the university when he was an active member of the NDC's Tertiary Education Institution Network (TEIN).
Aspirants file
Meanwhile, a number of aspirants have successfully filed their nominations across the country to contest the primaries.
At the Klotey Korley Constituency in Accra, Dr Ezanator Rawlings, daughter of former President Jerry Rawlings filed her nomination and explained that her objectives for contesting in the primaries of the NDC was to help the party get back to some of its "old values".
“I am not trying to invent the wheel. I am just helping us to remember some of the old values that we have; such as working together and not creating a gap between the constituents and leadership,” she stated in Accra on Wednesday.
She will have to beat the incumbent Nii Armah Ashietey, at the primaries to keep her hopes of annexing the seat alive.
Gilbert Mawuli Agbey reports from Awutu Beraku that the Member of Parliament (MP) for Awutu Senya West, Ms Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, filed her nomination forms to seek re-election in the upcoming parliamentary primaries of the NDC slated for November 7, 2015.
The MP, who was accompanied by the Awutu Senya District Chief Executive, Mr Sampson Abbey Armah, was followed by a huge crowd through the principal street of the town amid brass band music to file her nomination forms at the party office at Awutu Beraku.
The Constituency Secretary, Mr Saleem Assibu Yartey, received the completed forms together with the filing fee of GH¢ 5,000 in a banker’s draft on behalf of the party.
Address
Addressing some enthusiastic party supporters after presenting her forms, Ms Tetteh, who is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, indicated that she had accepted the challenge to contest again to continue to work towards the development of the area.
Accusations
From Tema, Benjamin Xornam Glover reports that on the last day for filing of nomination documents for the parliamentary primaries of the NDC some aggrieved supporters of the party locked up the party’s Tema West offices.
The youth, mainly supporters of Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo said their action follows a decision by the National Vice Chairman and Director of Elections of the NDC to withdraw from the up coming parliamentary primaries.
Vigilante group
Led by heavily built men in T'Shirt with the inscription 'Broken Arrows' embroidered on the top left breast, the nearly one hundred young men and women staged a demonstration in front of the offices amid drumming and dancing.
The disgruntled young men and women placed a huge board with the inscription "No Ampofo, No Vote in Tema West". The dissatisfied youth also replaced the existing padlocks to the office with new padlocks threatening to deal ruthlessly with anyone who dared intervene.
In another development, a 42-year-old businesswoman, Ms Mavis Krampah, accused the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam Constituency and Central Regional executives of the NDC of thwarting her efforts to contest the parliamentary primary.
According to her, the executives are bent on preventing her from contesting the incumbent Member of Parliament for the area, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson.
She said since nominations were opened and she decided to pick forms to contest the sitting MP, she had been tossed around by the executives, an obvious ploy to frustrate her and scuttle her political ambition.
