Accra, Aug. 17, GNA – Mr Marricke Kofi Gane, an Independent Presidential Aspirant for the 2020 General Election, has exited the Coalition of Independent Political Aspirants (CIPA), after an alleged flawed leadership replacement process among Coalition members.
The move made known in a statement signed and issued by Mr Gane copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra explained that the decision to exit the Coalition was due to some flawed basis over who had to become the leader of the Coalition.
The statement explained that a week before an Independent Presidential Aspirants’ Debate was hosted by IMANI in partnership with Joy FM on August 13, 2020, two criteria were agreed upon that a leader would emerge based on the outcome of the debate and related polls to be run along with the debate.
This decision followed earlier criteria comprising debate results, social media presence, on-the-ground strength, manifesto rating, and campaign financing machinery.
It was also agreed among all five Independent candidates before the debate, that, whoever, emerged leader would have the free hand to choose his Vice, with advisory input from all other candidates.
The statement said Mr Gane with the Campaign Tagline, “Gane4Ghana” Team won on three polls out of the four and thereby, pulling a total of 1,058 votes representing 55 per cent against that of his opponent, Mr Kofi Koranteng who had 527 votes representing 28 per cent.
At a CIPA executive meeting held on Saturday, August 15, 2020, the statement said, it was asserted that the IMANI polls would not be accepted due to its inherent potential to allow multiple votes.
“The steering committee for unexplained reasons, elected to consider only the Joy News poll, neglecting the Joy News poll on Twitter and the Joy99.7 FM polls on Twitter and Facebook.
“In a further twist, contrary to previously agreed criteria, the Steering Committee proceeded to ask each of the IPAs present to vote between which of the two aspirants, Mr Gane and Mr Koranteng, they preferred to lead CIPA,” the statement said.
It noted that Mr Carl Ebo Morgan and Mr Kofi Koranteng voted Mr Koranteng, Mr Osson Teye abstained to vote while Mr Samuel Ofori Ampofo was absent.
“Gane4Ghana believes that the adopted process was neither fair nor transparent. Despite the murky nature by which the final result was determined, we have wished CIPA and their Lead Candidate well for the race ahead.
“Regrettably, we cannot find any integrity or transparency in a process or body that willingly sets aside agreed criteria and voting results that the good people of Ghana have taken their time and efforts to invest in. We have always as an alternative, promised Ghanaians fearless honesty, and here again, we stand to defend it,” it noted.
“We know a lot will be said going forward. We wish to assure Ghanaians that we are focused on forging ahead with our agenda to build a Ghana that works for all of us, not just a few,” the statement added.
GNA