By Godfred A. Polkuu
Zuarungu (U/E), Oct. 8, GNA – The Vetting Committee of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Upper East Region has disqualified 20 members of the party who filed nominations to contest various positions at the Constituency level.
Out of 821 aspirants, across all 15 constituencies in the region, 801 qualified to contest 17 positions in the party in the various constituencies.
Apart from the Bolgatanga Central, Bongo, Talensi, Nabdam, Bawku Central and Binduri Constituencies where no aspirant was disqualified, the rest of the constituencies had disqualified aspirants.
The Builsa North and South Constituencies had five disqualified aspirants each.
One aspirant each was disqualified in the Navrongo Central, Chiana-Paga, Tempane and the Zebilla Constituencies, whereas the Bolgatanga East, Pusiga and Garu each had two disqualified candidates.
Mr Donatus Nyaaba, the Regional Director of Elections of the NDC, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the party’s office in Zuarungu, said contestants who successfully went through the process, but withdrew from the contest, were considered disqualified.
He said one candidate out of 64 candidates in the Zebilla Constituency withdrew, while two out of 54 in the Garu Constituency opted out of the contest after a successful vetting process.
The Director of Elections said in the Pusiga Constituency, one candidate out of 61 was absent, and the other did not meet the qualification requirements.
He said the Navrongo Central Constituency had 74 qualified contestants after one person was vetted out of a total of 75 contestants who picked nomination forms.
Mr Nyaaba attributed the huge number of contestants in the Constituency election in the respective Constituencies to the NDC’s chances of winning the 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
“As a party, we see the 2024 elections as a chance for us, considering what is happening in the country,” he said.
He noted that there would be factions as contestants prepared for the election, which comes off on October 22, 2022, “But the advice we want to give the Aspirants is that there is no loser and no winner, the NDC should be the only winner at the end of the contest.”
He cautioned all aspirants to engage in healthy campaigns devoid of insults or statements against their opponents which could create disunity at the grassroots level.
Mr Nyaaba said: “Words are powerful, if you are not mindful of your utterances it could create disunity in the Party.
“The NDC is the only Party that can rescue this country from the NPP, and if we are not united, we cannot achieve our purpose. I also want the Constituency Election Directors to note that our camp is the NDC, so it is our duty to be neutral.
“We were appointed as Election Executives per the Constitution of the Party and so we urge the contestants and their supporters to allow us to discharge our duties for a successful election exercise.”
GNA