The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has with immediate effect, opened nominations for its flagbearership contest ahead of the 2020 general elections.
This follows the approval of such exercise by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.
With this, all party members with flagbearer ambition could go ahead to campaign and solicit for votes.
But the green light for the exercise came with a caveat.
The General Secretary of the party, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, updating journalists about the party’s upcoming internal elections at the party’s headquarters in Accra, Thursday, directed that all flagbearer hopefuls must first inform the party through his office of their intention to contest the slot before beginning their campaign.
“What this means is that anybody who intends to contest the slot would have to notify the Office of the General Secretary so that at least we are aware that somebody is going to campaign in the name of the party and that will give us the opportunity to monitor the movement of any such person. We don’t want a situation where anybody gets up and begin meeting the press using our symbols … whether he is a member of our party or not to pretend to be aspiring to lead our party”, he noted.
He added “the notification would also enable the party to also offer to you the necessary courtesies to open an even playing field for all to contest”.
Mr. Nketiah popularly known as ‘General Mosquito’ also cautioned the flagbearer hopefuls against opulence and campaign of insults that might denigrate the image of the party.
That notwithstanding, he warned the party executives against using party structures to support a particular candidate to the detriment of others.
Among the candidates who have so far declared their intention to contest for the party’s flagbearership position are Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah, former President John Dramani Mahama, Prof. Joshua Alabi, Sylvester Mensah, Stephen Atubiga and Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin.