Day: December 30, 2023

The Ghanaian political scene in 2023 has been characterised by a cocktail of issues, events and activities as political parties commenced preparations towards the 2024 General Election.?

In this article, the Ghana News Agency relives some key events that occurred in the political arena in 2023 as the country prepares for crucial parliamentary and presidential elections in 2024.

NDC’s Parliamentary reshuffle:

The National Democratic Congress commenced the year on a shaky note, with major changes in its leadership in Parliament.?

The Party, on January 26, 2023, reshuffled the Minority leadership in Parliament comprising Haruna Iddrisu, and Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka among others.

Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, MP for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam Constituency, was announced the new Minority leader – a decision that triggered shock and disagreement among some NDC members.

The Party explained that the change in leadership was to ensure cooperation between the caucus and the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin.

However
, about 60 NDC MPs appended their signatures to a petition seeking to reverse the Party’s decision.

Later, there was a crunch meeting called by the NDC’s Council of Elders, the Party Leadership and the Minority Caucus in Parliament (MPs), which led to a resolution of the matter.

Mahama elected:

The turbulence that appeared to have raffled the stability of the NDC quietened and subsequently the Party successfully elected former President John Dramani Mahama to lead the NDC in the 2024 presidential election.

?Mr Mahama polled 297,603 votes representing 98.9 percent to beat Mr Kojo Bonsu, a former Mayor of Kumasi, who got 3,181 votes being 1.1 percent of the votes cast.

In that election, the NDC also elected parliamentary aspirants to represent the Party in the 2024 parliamentary elections.

Bola Tinubu elected as Nigeria’s President:?

On March 1, 2023, the Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the All-Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as the pre
sident-elect, in the general election held on February 25, 2023.

Tinubu, a former Lagos State Governor, was declared the president-elect after he garnered 8,794,726 votes to win the 2023 presidential election.

The other challengers include Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

Assin North By-election:

On June 27, 2023, James Gyakye Quayson, the NDC parliamentary candidate for the Assin North by-election, emerged victorious at the end of that crucial poll.

Mr Quayson polled 17,245 votes representing 57.56 per cent of the total votes cast to beat Charles Opoku of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and Bernice Enyonam Sefenu of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG).

Charles Opoku polled 12,630 votes representing 42.15 per cent of the total votes cast in the hotly contested by-election while the LPG’s Bernice Enyonam Sefenu polled a paltry 87 votes (0.29 per cent).

Mr Quayson w
on the seat in the 2020 polls with 17,498 votes but was kicked out of Parliament for having dual citizenship prior to filing his nomination forms.

NPP internal elections:

On November 4, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) capped its internal polls with the election of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as the flag bearer of the Party at its presidential primary held on Saturday, November 4, 2023.

The Vice President polled 118,210 votes representing 61.43 per cent out of the total valid votes cast, beating competition from Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, MP for Assin Central, who garnered 71,996 representing 37.41 per cent votes.

The other contenders in the presidential primaries were Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, former Minister for Food and Agriculture, who polled 1,459, representing 0.75 per cent and Mr Francis Adai Nimo, a former MP for Ashanti Mampong securing 781 representing 0.41 percent votes.

Mr Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, who had resigned as Minister of Trade and Industry and was initially tipped as a key contender, pu
lled out of the race after the Party’s Super Delegates Congress, which pruned the number of contestants for the presidential primary down to five.

On September 25, 2023, Mr Kyerematen announced his resignation from the NPP and to contest the 2024 Presidential election as an independent candidate.

Among the reasons he cited were alleged intimidation of his supporters during the party Super Delegates Conference and the hijacking of the Party by a selected group of Party leaders and elders.

NPP Orphan Constituency primaries:

The NPP successfully completed another leg of its internal elections, with the election of parliamentary aspirants in constituencies where the NPP does not have sitting MPs.

The Party has subsequently set January 27, 2024 for the election of parliamentary aspirants in constituencies where the NPP has sitting MPs.

Expectation for 2024:

The year 2024 is expected to witness bustling political activities as typical of every election year.

Political parties are expected to scale-up their
campaigning, launch their manifestoes, and make a case for voters to buy their messages.

With Vice-President Bawumia and Former President Mahama already hitting the road, the two aspirants will indulge in battle of words, policies, accusations, and tout their track records ahead of one of the most crucial elections in the 4th Republic.
Source: Ghana News Agency

Some polling station executives and past officers of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Akontombra Constituency of the Western North Region, have expressed concern over what they described as growing disunity among the rank and file of party.

They believed that the situation could negatively affect the fortunes of the party in the next election if concrete actions were not taken to resolve the issues.

Speaking at a press conference at Sefwi-Nsawora, Mr Mufthaw Yusif, a former Constituency Youth Organiser, said the once united Akontombra NPP was no more, and attributed the situation to ‘autocratic leadership by certain figures’ in the constituency.

He said: ‘The threat, intimidation and unjustified suspension of party faithful is gradually sinking the party, which must be checked going into the 2024 elections ‘.

Mr Yusif, who picked nomination forms to contest in the NPP parliamentary primary at Akontombra, has withdrawn to support Mr Appiah Kubi Baidoo, one of the aspirants, to win and unite the party.

Mr Baidoo, on his part, commended Mr Yusif for throwing his weight behind him, saying his decision was crucial to present a sole candidate to contest the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) of the area.

‘The posture of some individuals within the Akontombra Constituency seeking unopposed candidate does not reflect the realities on the ground, and is a recipe for disunity, so we must do all we can to save it from collapsing and I am to do that’, he noted.

Mr Baidoo, therefore, implored delegates to vote for him to lead and bring unity into the party to ensure the NPP retained the seat in 2024.

He appealed to the Regional and District Security Councils to ensure absolute security in the run up to the parliamentary primary to help maintain peace before, during and after the elections.

Some polling station executives in an interview with the Ghana News Agency called for an open contest between the candidates as advocating unopposed candidacy undermined democracy.
Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Richard Ahiagbah, the Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has downplayed calls for the Controller and Accountant-General, Mr Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem, to resign before contesting the Party’s parliamentary primaries.

He said there was no specific rule currently that barred the Controller and Accountant-General from contesting a political office while holding on to his current position.

Mr Kwaning-Bosompem is seeking to lead the NPP as its Parliamentary Candidate in the Akim Swedru Constituency in the Eastern Region in the coming 2024 General Election.

However, since news of his decision to contest the seat broke, there have been many calls from some political parties, political commentators and civil servants, including the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG), for him to vacate the position as the Controller and Accountant-General.

Speaking on Accra-based TV3’s ‘The Key Points’ programme, on Saturday, Mr Ahiagba rejected such calls, indicating that, the posi
tion of the Controller and Accountant-General was a ‘unique’ one.

According to him, the current Controller and Accountant-General was ‘not a civil servant in the true sense of the word’ because he was a government appointee.

Therefore, Mr Ahiagba insisted the Controller and Accountant-General needed not to resign before contesting for any political position.

‘There is no doubt about rendering the position of the law, I think there is no dispute about that, but what I’m saying is that we have a unique situation in this Controller and Accountant-General position where technically, he was out of the civil service and brought back in. All the examinations that we are talking about, non of them conform to his particular situation.

‘If anybody wants to parallel what ruling exist to say that, therefore, he resigns, I’m saying that there is a unique instance. Perhaps, the Supreme Court can give a ruling,’ he said.

Mr Ahigbah added that ‘he (Controller and Accountant-General) has gone out (of civil service) and c
ome in by an appointment. So, technically, he is not a civil servant in the true sense of the word, he is a government appointee on the basis of that.

‘There is no rule currently that deals with his position in terms of any ruling.’

Mr Bobby Banson, private legal practitioner, on the same programme, insisted that the Controller and Accountant-General’s continuous stay in office while vying for a political position amounted to breaking the law.

Article 94(3)(b) of the 1992 Constitution states that; ‘A person shall not be eligible to be a member of Parliament if he is a member of the Police Service, the Prisons Service, the Armed Forces, the Judicial Service, the Legal Service, the Civil Service\the Audit Service, the Parliamentary Service, the Statistical Service, the Fire Service, the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, the Immigration Service, or the internal Revenue Service.’

Mr Banson, therefore, urged the NPP to disqualify the Controller and Accountant-General from contesting the Party’s parliamen
tary primaries if he failed to resign from his current position.

Dr Rasheed Draman, Executive Director, African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs, warned against any action that could lead to the politicisation of both the civil and public service.

‘There are very good reasons why we want to keep our civil and public servants away from politics, and I think the parties must do all in their power to make sure that we don’t get to this level,’ he stressed.
Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Thomas Worlanyo Tsekpo, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Candidate, says the Party has begun solving the water-related problems that affected communities in the Hohoe Constituency in the Volta Region.

Daily access to water remained a problem in the constituency, while some communities had dysfunctional boreholes, which needed repairs.

Mr Tsekpo said this after tours within some areas in the Constituency revealed the lack of potable water, which the NDC had taken upon itself to resolve.

He said the ‘Water is Life’ project would provide safe drinking water to communities including Alavanyo Agorxoe, Kitikpa, Gbi Avega, and Akpatanu.

Mr Tsekpo said communities such Alavanyo Kpeme, Hohoe Paloma and Gbi Akplamafu had their boreholes and polytank malfunctioning, which were tackled.

He said from 2024, two boreholes would be drilled monthly for some communities that continued to suffer the lack of safe drinking water.

The water project per a supply ranged between GHS25,000 to GHS30,000, w
hich were contributions from the party executives and members in the Constituency.

The Party recently gave a face-lift to the Hohoe Market Abattoir to ensure meat was sold under hygienic conditions, he said.

Mr Tsekpo said the NDC had plans to upgrade educational infrastructure in the constituency to boost teaching and learning.
Source: Ghana News Agency