Hours after opening nomination, which closes on 6th March 2011, several party faithful flooded regional and constituency offices amidst brass band music and supporters to pick up nomination forms.
A statement issued by the NPP and signed by its General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, detailed the rules and regulations governing the upcoming primaries, fees and steps in the electoral process scheduled for 30th April 2011. “There shall be no other considerations beyond these rules and regulations without the express knowledge of the National Executive,” the release stated.
It therefore directed all interested party members who are eligible to contest and fulfill all requirements to pick up nomination forms from the national, regional and constituency offices across the country, wishing all aspirants the best of luck whilst looking forward to a peaceful and meaningful contest come April 30 when the candidates would be selected simultaneously across the country.
Adwoa Safo bluffs her way
At the Dome-Kwabenya constituency, daughter of the founder and leader of the Kristo Asafo congregation, Adwoa Safo, picked her nomination forms in a bid to probably unseat incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye.
Though the veteran politician has not given any indication of contesting for the seat again, speculations have it that he intends to step down for his son, Mike Oquaye Jnr., to succeed him.
But Adwoa Safo, a lawyer by profession who contested but lost the Dome-Kwabenya parliamentary bid to Prof Oquaye in the 2008 primary, is staging a comeback.
She has thrown in her bid to take over from good old Prof. Mike Oquaye, who says his current preoccupation was to see how best he could salvage some of his constituents who became victims of the recent floods in Accra.
Amidst brass band and a large following, Adwoa went to the constituency office yesterday and picked up nomination forms after paying GH¢1,000.
Constituency chairman, Mr. Fodjour, was on hand to receive the amount and give out the forms.
When DAILY GUIDE contacted Prof. Oquaye to ascertain whether or not he would seek re-election, he declined comment since, according to him, his present focus was to assist his constituents who were badly hit by the flood to come out of their predicament.
Adwoa Safo, who has chosen ‘victory, service, development in unity’ as her campaign slogan, was however overly confident that she would get to lead the NPP in the Dome-Kwabenya constituency, ahead of the 2012 elections to win more votes for the party.
“We are here to unite our people and to win for the party,” she said, promising to give other interested persons a run for their money as she is leaving nothing to chance in the upcoming primaries.
The upcoming parliamentary primaries of the NPP promise to be interesting, with some individuals getting set to contest seats which are currently occupied by some key and influential members of the party.
Rousing Welcome
For Mama Pat
The Asokwa constituency New Patriotic Party (NPP) office was turned into rally grounds yesterday when former KMA boss, Patricia Appiagyei, stormed the place to pick nomination forms for the parliamentary polls.
Wearing a white dress, Ms. Appiagyei caused a huge vehicular traffic in the area as she and her fans danced to ‘soloku’ tunes right from her house to the party office.
Amidst chants of ‘we need change,’ the hundreds of NPP supporters that joined Madam Appiagyei aka ‘Mama Pat’ on the float were seen displaying a series of ‘soloku’ dancing moves in the street.
Madam Appiagyei, who seemed enchanted by the enthusiasm of her supporters, could not help but joined the NPP fans by showcasing some ‘soloku’ dancing skills.
For almost thirty minutes, the vicinity of the NPP office was flooded with people from all walks of life, decorated with the red, blue and white colours of the party with an elephant as a symbol.
The noise that greeted the handing-over of the nomination forms to Mama Pat nearly shook the foundation of the party office as the delighted fans chanted ‘yensa aka’, to wit ‘we have received it.’
After handing over the nomination forms, the Asokwa constituency chairman of the NPP, Asare Bediako, deflated rumuors that the party was in flames in the area.
He described the upcoming NPP primaries as a family affair so he entreated the contestants not to indulge in acts that had the potential of causing cracks in the party.
Mr. Bediako tasked the contestants for the seat to conduct their campaign in a decent manner and shun all acts that might create divisions among them.
He announced that so far, the incumbent MP of the area, Kofi Jumah and Madam Patricia Appiagyei, had picked forms to participate in the polls. On her part, Madam Appiagyei, a former KMA boss who sounded confident, said the advice by the chairman had been taken in good faith, promising to conduct an incident-free campaign.
Napo Picks Form
The MP for Manhyia Constituency, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, also picked his forms with a warning to his party chairman to refrain from his ‘bad’ acts to ensure peace in the party.
Without mincing words, Dr. Prempeh accused the chairman, Osei Mensah, of being the cause of all the troubles that had engulfed the party in the Manhyia constituency lately.
He catalogued a series of actions by the chairman just to bring him down for no justifiable reasons, stressing it was high time that Mr. Mensah turned a new leaf to promote peace in the party.
Dr. Prempeh disclosed that Mr. Mensah had flouted the party regulations that forbade executives from actively taking part in the upcoming primaries by hand-picking a candidate to contest him for the seat. The Manhyia MP said he had no problem if Mr. Mensah and some of his executives did not like his candidature, but he only hoped that they would respect the party rule to stay neutral in the elections.
Dr. Prempeh later told party supporters: “I have picked the form, and this is to signify that Nana Addo is on his way to the Castle come 2013.”
Anane’s Challenger Laments
An aspirant for the Nhyiaeso Constituency parliamentary seat suffered the ordeal of standing in the scorching sun with her supporters before getting hold of the party’s nomination forms.
Nana Ama Serwah Nyarko experienced the shock of her life when she came to meet the Nhyiaeso Constituency NPP office locked, with no party official present to assist her. The 37-year-old graduate of Leicester University in the UK was dejected and disappointed as her hopes of grabbing a copy of the party’s nomination forms seemed bleak.
Ms. Nyarko suffered this fate though she had duly informed the party hierarchy in the constituency about her visit on the day to pick the forms to enable her to contest the polls.
Determined to take part in the elections, she and her supporters were seen standing in the scorching sun, hoping that the party executives would turn up. She said the party officers in the constituency on Friday acknowledged receipt of her letter of coming for the forms on Monday.
According to her, she even phoned the party secretary, Agyeman Opambuor earlier on Monday, informing him that she was on her way to the office for the nomination forms. Serwah Nyarko said she was therefore taken aback when she met the office locked around 10:45am.
She said she had done her homework well and was poised to give the incumbent, Dr. Richard Anane, a stiff competition. Ms. Nyarko was able to pick the nomination forms when Mr. Opambuor finally arrived to open the party office around 12:30pm.
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Mad Rush For NPP