Last Saturday, August 26, 2023, the ruling New Patriotic Party’ selected elite, the Super Delegates,went to the polls, to prune down the number of presidential aspirants from ten to five. The results came as expected with the front runners, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, Hon. John Alan Kyerematen, Hon. Kennedy Agyepong and Hon Afriyie Akoto making the first five.
What was rather unexpected was the rankings. Many people in the party believed the Vice President was to lead the pack and yes, he did. But against popular belief, Alan could not make it to the second position, it was Kennedy who did, followed by the “People’s Choice,” Alan, who came third. Could it be that, party members who will want to have nothing to do with Bawumia, would consider Kennedy over Alan? Or, could it be that the Super Delegates, met and decided on how to vote and agreed to put Alan at the third position to convince the larger decision-making body, the Congress, that he was not popular? With this, it means that the Alan Campaign Team must review campaign strategies and use a better approach towards the Presidential Primaries in November.
For the fifth position, two honourable gentlemen, Addai Nimoh and Boakye Agyarko, who had the same number of votes, tied. And it will require that one of themsteps down or the Super Delegates go back to vote in a run-off.
When nine of the ten aspirants petitioned against holding the voting in every region, the national executives, thought they were being unrealistic and threw out the petition and held the elections in each of the sixteen regions.
If the elections were held in one centre, the delegates would have easily been asked to vote in a run-off. This should be a lesson.
Ideally, every voting centre should have the characteristics of voting centres during any national elections, and so it was unacceptable when the Party General-Secretary, Justin Frimpong-Kodua, said he saw nothing wrong with posters of some aspirants openly displayed on the walls of the Party Head Office voting centre. It is very important for him to know that by the electoral laws of the country this is not acceptable.
Talking of violation of electoral laws, it is also legally unacceptable for anyone to display his or her thumb-printed ballot to the public to indicate to all, who they had voted for.
So, for the Ashanti regional youth organiser, Raphael Patrick Safo, to violate the Party’s voting guidelines this way, he should have been punished to serve as deterrence to others.
In this country, the NDC prides itself as a party of violence and go on to claim that so far as violence is concern, it has no peer in the country.
Violence frequently, erupted in its internal elections. The crudest form of acts of violence during its 2006 primaries in Koforidua, led key members, like Obed Asamoah, Bede Ziedeng and Frances Assiam to part ways with the party.
On November 15, 2015, during another NDC primaries it became violence galore across the country. Then lately, on December 10, 2022, at Cape Coast, during an NDC’s Youth and Women’s Congress to elect national violence played a major role.
While proceedings were ongoing at the Congress two rival groups violently clashed throwing stones, blocks, sticks, clubs, chairs among others, causing injury to three persons and destruction to property. Sixteen people were immediately put on police wanted list.
This is all about the NDC and its internal elections. But now, sadly the NPP seems to be exhibiting these barbaric trends.
During Saturday’s Super Delegates Congress, there were reports of attacks on some agents of aspirants. While Kennedy Agyapong got pissed off and angrily attacked the Vice President, also an aspirant and the President, for attacks on his agents, Hon. Yaw Boaben Asamoah from Alan Kyerematen’s camp went wild and mad when he disclosed on air that one of Alan’s agents in the North-East region, Ali Zakaria was brutalised.He had attempted to prevent the regional youth organizer, Mumuni Nurudeen, from putting his thumb-printed ballot into the box. His reason was that the latter had shown, every person around, who he had voted vote by exhibiting his ballot paper to the public. Shortly, Ali’s, photo was on social media, showing his puffed eye and battered face.
It is very much unlike the NPP to allow violence to enter into the party’s internal affairs. And it is for this reason, why I will suggest that the party leadership must immediately take measures to address these issues and punish all those culpable. Sanity must be revered in the party.
I will take this opportunity to recommend that another look must be taken at the Special Delegates Congress with more democratic ways founded to prune down the number of aspirants expressing their desire to run for president. As we speak, everyone is waiting to see how the Party is going to drop one of the two who tied at the fifth position. Both Addai Nimoh and Boakye Agyarko are good presidential materials.
Or, guess what, six aspirants will be allowed to contest this year’s presidential primaries. If that will be the case, then the Special Delegates Congress has failed to serve its purpose.
Hon. Daniel Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.
