Mahama Endorsement Bad – Asiedu Nketia Tells Minority MPs
Confusion is brewing in the ranks of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) days after the Minority in Parliament endorsed John Dramani Mahama as flagbearer of the party.
In the view of Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the party, it is inappropriate for the Minority in Parliament to declare its support for one candidate or another.
Mr. Asiedu Nketia, known in politics as ‘General Mosquito’ stated that individuals can endorse aspirants but not in groups.
Addressing journalists in Accra yesterday, the NDC Scribe said “…Individuals can declare their support, one way or another. Apart from the parliamentary caucus, we have the women’s wing for instance, it will be offensive for anybody to declare that the women’s wing of the NDC supports candidate A or B.
“But if you are a national women’s organizer or regional women’s organizer you can declare your support to anyone you want to declare your support for,” he said.
His comments come days after the endorsement of ex-president John Mahama by the Minority MPs.
Tricks
This week, the MP for Builsa South, Clement Apaak released a list of over 96 MPs claiming to have endorsed the ex-president.
But that list has been challenged and questioned by some MPs in the house.
Keta South MP Richard Quashigah who has already declared support for another presidential candidate, Prof Joshua Alabi, challenged the figures put out by Mr Apaak.
According to him, some MPs were subtly coerced to endorse the ex-president or lose the upcoming primaries.
On his part the Yunyoo MP, Joseph Bipoba Naabu said he was tricked into signing a document which is now being trumpeted as list of endorsement by NDC MPs.
He said he thought the document was attendance sheet in Parliament which he filled and signed, only to be told later on that the document is an endorsement list for Mahama.
He said he is an unapologetic supporter of the second Deputy Speaker Alban Bagbin who is also an aspiring flagbearer and should not be linked to ex-president John Mahama.
No Tricks
But the party’s MP for Bongo, Edward Bawa, has stated that no member of parliament was tricked into signing a document showing their endorsement of John Mahama to lead the party into the 2020 elections
Mr. Bawa said, “The whole impression being created that people were tricked into signing is untrue. If you look at the caption of the form, it is stated clearly, ‘Members of Parliament for John Mahama 2020.’”
He also indicated that the form that was used to gather the signatures of the NDC MPs was from his office.
“That document was generated by my office; we started gathering the signatures and it was not meant to go out…It was not supposed to show disrespect to the party’s guidelines and regulations. But it’s out there and no one can pretend that people in other groups are organizing themselves too,” he said.
Meanwhile, the party has set December 7, 2018, for the election of its flagbearer for the 2020 presidential election.
“We have taken note of our constitutional requirement to choose our Flagbearer, 24 months before the next elections and the constitution not having been amended yet, we can safely calculate our timelines from 7thDecember 2020, so that will bring us back to 7th of December 2018 for a choice to be made on who leads our party into the next general elections.”
Generally Mosquito added: “Ordinarily, we would have concluded all the internal elections before opening the space for campaigning and declaration of intentions, but we realise that if we are to wait till we finish our elections by September, the time will be short for some aspirants, so on behalf of the national executive committee and on my own behalf as the Chief Executive of NDC, I wish to declare the campaign period for our presidential primaries officially opened with immediate effect.”
Contenders
About 5 members of the NDC have so far declared their intention to contest as flagbearers of the party ahead of the 2020 polls.
They include Dr. Ekow Spio Garbah, a former Trades and Industry Minister under the John Mahama government; Former Vice Chancellor of the University for Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Prof. Joshua Alabi, and Member of Parliament for Nadowli-Kaleo, Alban Bagbin.
By: Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
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