8 Run For President; Konadu Crashes Out

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The Electoral Commission (EC) has given the green-light to eight presidential aspirants from seven political parties, and an independent candidate to contest the December 7 general elections.

Interestingly, former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, who announced her candidature for the newly-formed National Democratic Party (NDP), got her fingers burnt as she could not sail through, crash-landing after her high-flying entry.

A total of 17 political parties and independent candidates picked up nomination forms at the EC two weeks ago.

However, at the end of the exercise, less than half of them were successful. There were about 14 parties that filed their nominations, but six were turned out by the EC for either failing to get the requisite number of supporters from all the districts in the country, or certain fundamental information were not filled in the forms.

The successful parties include the New Patriotic Party (NPP) with Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as its candidate; the Progressive People Party (PPP), with Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom; the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama; the Convention People?s Party (CPP), Dr Michael Abu Sakara Foster; the People?s National Convention (PNC), Hassan Ayariga; the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Dr Henry Lartey;  and the United Front Party (UFP) with Akwasi Addei Odike as flagbearer.

Also, a businessman Jacob Osei-Yeboah was given the nod by the EC as the only independent presidential candidate in the December polls.

The final selection of candidates came after a bumpy nomination process that dragged through Wednesday and late Thursday evening.

According to Dr. Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the EC, all the parties that sailed through the nomination process properly executed the requirements contained in the nomination forms, even though a few of the parties such as the CPP were initially threatened when the EC asked the parties? delegations to go back and fill in some gaps in the several hundred paged forms. ?Some people think we do not check, but we do,? Kofi Assumaning, Director of Election at EC told DAILY GUIDE.

The parties that were unable to make it included the New Vision Party (NVP), the Independent People?s Party (IPP), the Yes People?s Party (YPP), Ghana Freedom Party and Kofi Wayo?s United Renaissance Party (URP).

Konadu?s Crash

The biggest upset on the last day of the nomination process was the disqualification of the National Democratic Party (NDP) led by former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, who was seriously bracing herself for the December contest.

The NDP, like the other disqualified parties, appeared rather unprepared for the nomination, as its representatives, Ernest Owusu Bempah, Joseph Bediako and some other aides of the former first lady got to the EC premises before scrambling to fill in the forms.

At a point, the NDP representatives clustered around the EC lounge frantically filling in the forms.

The party?s problem was apparently compounded by their late arrival at the EC?s conference room where the nomination process was ongoing.

Despite the 5pm deadline issued by the EC, Mr Bempah and his crew confidently waltzed in around 4.30pm to present their forms.

Their composure was deflated when Mr. Assumaning told them that their forms were not properly filled in.

The party failed to secure the requisite number of supporters from certain districts, particularly in the Northern Region, leaving gaping holes in the forms.

Dr. Afari-Gyan told them in no uncertain terms that this was not acceptable.

At a point, the NDP representatives and representatives from the other disqualified parties protested and challenged the EC?s conclusion that they were not ready.

That compelled Dr. Afari-Gyan to ask them to bring the forms for everybody present at the EC conference hall to see the blank spaces in the forms.

Despite this anomaly, the EC boss was entreated to grant them some minutes? leverage.

He complied, giving them almost 20 minutes to put their acts together.

Unfortunately, they could not meet that deadline, forcing the EC boss to declare, ?The day is over, and we will not accept any more nominations.?

When asked why the NDP failed to adequately arm itself before submitting its forms, a clearly crestfallen Bempah declined to comment.

However, Joseph Bediako, a leading member of the party, attributed the failure to sabotage from the NDP?s rivals.

According to Mr. Bediako, the people in the districts who were given the forms to fill out were bribed by the NDP?s opponents who felt threatened by the party?s emergence.

Konadu?s Veep

Earlier, Nana Konadu had picked a lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Samuel Buame, as her running-mate.

Dr. Samuel Buame contested the NDC parliamentary primary in the newly created Adaklu constituency in the Volta Region but managed to poll only eight votes.

Dr. Buame is a lecturer at the Enterprise Development Services Department of the University of Ghana.
He is a member of the Ghana Bar Association.

Disappointment

Prophet Daniel Nkansah, the flagbearer of the NVP, who has been cited in several alleged fraud cases, was almost beside himself with grief when he was told by the Electoral Commissioner that his nomination had been torpedoed.

?Maybe, it is the will of God, so I will go and prepare myself for the next four years,? Prophet Nkansah told DAILY GUIDE, almost in tears.

Kofi Anin, the flagbearer of the YPP, was extremely agitated because he thought the EC deliberately disqualified him.

He told teeming journalists that the EC?s excuse for disqualifying him was because it claimed he was late, an assertion that he strongly contested.

Explaining the turn of events for the parties that could not make it, EC?s Acting Director of Public Affairs, Christian Owusu Parry, stated ?The fact is that the forms were not fully subscribed. They are required to get two supporters from every administrative district in the country, so if you don?t have all those supporters, we cannot accept your nomination.?

Asked if the EC was going to give consideration to the parties which were frantically struggling to fill in their forms, Christian Owusu Parry said, ?We would be going contrary to the law that is a legal requirement that you must be supported by two registered voters in every administrative district of the country and that is not negotiable, we cannot ignore it.?

Eleventh Hour Blues

Many of the disqualified parties came in at the last hour of the nomination in classic Ghanaian style.

About seven different parties walked into the EC conference hall barely one-and-a-half hours to the close of nominations.

Their confidence was quickly deflated when the EC?s scrutiny of their documents showed several anomalies.

Earlier, the EC had warned that its two-day schedule for the nomination exercise would not be extended.

It was unclear why most of the contending parties turned up on the last day of nomination. On the first day of the nomination, only two political parties; the NPP and the PPP turned up and went through the process seamlessly.

Most of those disqualified parties were unable to get the requisite number of  supporters from the districts, Christian Owusu Parry told DAILY GUIDE, and there was no way they could have possibly conjured the outstanding supporters at the hour that they showed up at the EC on Thursday.

By Raphael Adeniran

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