NPP aspirants pick forms to contest national positions

Seven aspirants picked forms yesterday when nominations for positions in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) national election opened.

The first to pick his form was the National Treasurer of the party, Mr Kwabena Abankwa Yeboah, who is seeking re-election. He was followed by Mrs Joyce Konokie Zempare, National Women Organiser aspirant, and Alhaji Ahmed Zaruk Nuhu, a National NASARA Coordinator aspirant.

The rest were Mr F.F. Antoh First Vice Chairman aspirant, Mr Ken Wuud First Vice Chairman aspirant. Mr Dominic Eduah, National Youth Organiser aspirant and Rashid Adam NASARA Coordinator aspirant.

The nominations which opened yesterday, are expected to end on May 10, 2018.

The aspirants will be vying for positions such as national chairman, national first vice chairman, national second vice chairman and national third vice chairman.

The other positions are general secretary, national treasurer, national organiser, national women organiser, national youth organiser and national NASARA coordinator.

Nomination fees

Aspirants are to pay a non-refundable application fee of GH¢10,000 for the national chairman position, vice-chairman - GH¢8,000, general secretary - GH¢6,000, special organs such as women organiser and NASARA coordinator will pay GH¢3,000, while all other positions pay GH¢5,000.

Chairmanship

Three aspirants are yet to pick their forms but have already expressed their intention to contest the national chairmanship position at the delegates’ conference slated for June 15 to June 17 in Koforidua in the Eastern Region.

They are the acting National Chairman, Mr Freddie Blay; a former First Vice-Chairman of the party, Mr Stephen Ntim, and the immediate past Upper West Regional Chairman of the party, Alhaji Abdul Rahman, alias Alhaji Short.

For the general secretary, national organiser and national youth organiser positions, three persons have made public their decisions to contest. They are Mr John Boadu, who was expected to pick his forms late yesterday afternoon , Mr Sammy Awuku and Kamal Deen Abdulai respectively.

Prospective candidates

The party has, therefore, appealed to prospective candidates and their supporters to respect the rules of engagement and conduct their campaign with the ‘’necessary candour’’.

‘’Let us all commit ourselves to ensuring an incident-free primary for the love of our great party,’’ the acting General Secretary of the NPP, Mr Boadu, declared at a press conference in Accra last Monday to announce the guidelines for the National Delegates’ Conference.

Nominations to close

According to Mr Boadu, nomination forms should be accurately filled and submitted to the National Election Committee not later than Tuesday, May 15, 2018.

He explained that the National Election Committee would be responsible for vetting all aspirants, stressing that a member of the National Election Committee would not be eligible to contest any position in the national election.

Vetting processes

Mr Boadu said any aspirant who was dissatisfied with the vetting processes should appeal to the National Council of Elders within three days for redress, adding that the decision of the Council of Elders was final.

He warned that any aspirant who did not exhaust the party’s internal mechanism for resolving disputes and proceeded to court would be barred from contesting any position in the national election.