The atmosphere appears tensed ahead of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) special delegates’ conference tomorrow, which will see some 961 eligible voters casting their ballots to select five out of the ten presidential aspirants of the party.
All ten candidates have been criss-crossing the entire nation, enticing the delegates to vote for them. Saturday, August 26, 2023, secret ballot is in accordance with Article 12 (5) (b) of the NPP constitution, as amended in 2009.
That portion states that “where there are more than five contestants for nomination as the party’s presidential candidate, a special electoral college shall cast their votes by secret ballot for the first five contestants to be short-listed.”
POSITION BALLOT
The ballot paper for the special delegates’ election has Kennedy Agyapong as number one; Alan Kyerematen as number two; Joe Ghartey, number three; Kwadwo Poku, four and Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto as number five.
The rest are Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, number six; Francis Addai-Nimoh, number seven; Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, number eight; Boakye Agyarko, number nine and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, number 10.
VICTORY
Several surveys have tipped the Vice President, Dr. Bawumia, to have a landslide victory, but not ruling out the possibility of surprises from either the former Minister for Trades and Industry or the Member of Parliament for Assin North, Kennedy Agyapong.
For instance, a survey conducted by Outcomes International Ghana and the Center for Sustainable African Development Initiatives (C-SADI) UK, project a 72 percent victory for Dr. Bawumia tomorrow.
According to the survey, Alan Cash will follow Bawumia with 7.7 percent, Ken Agyapong will be third with 4.3 percent, Kwabena Agyepong will be fourth with 1.8 percent and Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto will take the fifth place with 0.6%.
MESSAGES
The five, as projected by the survey, have separate messages going into November 4, 2023 and by extension 2024.
Dr. Bawumia boasts of his achievements in the last six years as vice president to convince delegates that he could do more as the main man, the president.
He cites the implementation of the national identification system, the drone for medical supply, mobile money interoperability, the digital address system and the Zongo Development Fund, among others.
“If I have been able to achieve all these as vice president, imagine what I can do when I become president with your support,” he told delegates in Asankare, Asante-Akim South Constituency, during his Ashanti Region campaign tour.
Mr Alan Kyerematen, a few days after resigning from government, announced what he termed the Great Transformational Plan to transform the country.
According to him, his policies mainly focus on industry, agriculture, economics, governance, and security within a five-year period spanning 2025–2030.
The Assin North MP, Ken Agyapong, is campaigning on job creation. He tells the delegate to consider the fact that as a private person he has created several jobs and employed a lot of Ghanaians, adding that he would run Ghana like a business until an unprecedented transformation.
Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, the former Press Secretary under Kufuor, who later became General Secretary of the NPP, launched his campaign with a six-point strategy to tackle the country’s economic challenges.
“In this New Dawn, I envision a Ghana that is economically robust and resilient, fiscally responsible, socially cohesive and fully accountable to the good people,” he stated as he outlined his strategy.
The former Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, is in the contest with his track record as the agriculture minister.
He has thus promised to leverage the potential of the agricultural sector to turn the economic fortunes of the country around.
Meanwhile, some have said that a premium should not be placed on the hierarchy of the five at the special delegate vote.
