We ‘re Not Wizards — Spio-Garbrah Tells Party Executives

Presidential Aspirant of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, who’s dream of becoming the flagbearer may have been thwarted due to the many matters arising in the party, has opined that some of the processes outlined by the party to choose its flagbearer are completely irrational.

One of the areas, he believes, is impracticable is the number of days allocated to aspirants to submit their nomination forms.

Speaking on Accra-based TV3; Dr. Spio-Garbrah noted that the period between picking up of a nomination form and submitting it is not feasible, adding that only a ‘wizard’ could meet the deadline.

“When the national executives were running their own race, they gave themselves six weeks between the picking up of their nomination forms and submission but when it came to the flagbearers, they say do it in 10 days,” he said.

He continued: “Unless you have a helicopter or you are part of a witchcraft association when you can fly at night, then you can readily go to 10 regions of Ghana and 275 constituencies in just 10 days and get 10 signatories who must be card holders of the party and who must be members in good standing…and that takes time.”

Dr. Spio-Garbrah posits that any candidate, who would meet the 10-day deadline, may have received the filing form before its official release.

Lost before the race?

When the whistle was blown for the NDC flagbearer race to begin, never did the aspirants believe that certain forces would gang up to rock their boat.

According to Dr. Spio, their chances of even beginning the race have been skewed.

“I want to lose honourably and fairly, not through a skewed playing field. At this point, there is no value in the race,” he lamented.

Using an analogy he said, “For this particular NDC election, the match commissioner has already declared that even though Black Stars is going to play against Ethiopia, he will make sure Ethiopia wins because he supports Ethiopia.

According to him, if he, together with other presidential aspirants who have petitioned the party’s Council of Elders, are eventually able to scale through the stringent nomination process, then the individuals who openly expressed bias in favour of a particular candidate must recuse themselves from the primaries processes.

The NDC Chairman and General Secretary, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo and Johnson Asiedu Nketia are known to have made public statements to the effect that they preferred former President John Mahama to lead the party in the 2020 elections.

Betrayal?

Meanwhile, Prof. Joshua Alabi, one of the aspirants who had petitioned the NEC over almost the same concerns, had gone ahead to purchase his nomination form.

Prof. Alabi’s forms were picked on his behalf by his campaign team, led by former Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Ken Dzirasah.

Reports also say, Sylvester Mensah and Stephen Atubiga have also picked their forms, alongside former president John Mahama.

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey/ [email protected]