NDC national executive race: Woyome files for vice-chair, Otu Darko for deputy communications

Listen to this articleAI narrationPlayback position0:00Audio version1010Playback speed1×Businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome and Accra FM broadcaster Nana Otu Darko have filed nominations on Saturday to contest national executive positions in the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Their submissions came as the party opened its three-day filing window at 12:00 noon on Saturday, November 7, at its Jerry John Rawlings House headquarters in Accra, following a four-hour delay for the Monthly National Clean-Up Exercise.

Former NDC Deputy National Women's Organiser Dr Catherine Deynu submitted the nomination papers on Woyome's behalf as he seeks one of the party's National Vice Chairperson slots ahead of the 2028 general elections.

Deynu told Citi FM after filing that Woyome's campaign focuses on strengthening constituency structures, empowering grassroots members and promoting sustainable job creation to keep the party's organisational base competitive.

"He has done a lot for the party, and this is the time for him to be at the helm of affairs to ensure that our grassroots members are empowered and that those at the constituency level have their capacity built," Deynu said.

Woyome, a businessman and longtime NDC financier, was previously at the centre of a multi-year legal dispute over a GH¢51 million state judgment debt payment; he was acquitted of criminal charges, while the Supreme Court ordered him in 2014 to refund the money.

In the Deputy National Communications Officer contest, Otu Darko—a broadcaster with Class Media Group's Accra FM—filed his forms on Saturday with a pledge to set up a dedicated welfare fund for party communicators.

Speaking after submitting his papers, he proposed creating a Communicators Fund for communicators and serial callers alongside a commercial television station owned by the party.

"I have so many policies that I have decided upon, but I think chief amongst them is what I call the Communicators Fund. More often than not, there is that desire of our communicators to sell the agenda of the NDC but there are times that practically or pragmatically, they are financially unstable," Otu Darko said.

He added that his journalism background prepared him to help the party's communications bureau shift from opposition campaigning to defending a party in government.

Under the timetable issued by Congress Elections Committee spokesperson Dr Peter Boamah Otokunor, the nomination window closes on Monday, November 9, ahead of vetting in Accra on Wednesday, November 11, and Thursday, November 12.

While Saturday's reports did not name other contenders for the vice-chairperson or deputy communications posts, declared aspirants in other national races include Steven Nhyira Odarteifio for National Youth Organiser, Suallah Anas Suwari for Deputy National Youth Organiser and Osman Iddrisu Banpuori for the National Executive Committee.

The NDC will hold its regional executive conferences on November 14 and 15—where elections officials have warned candidates against inducing delegates—before electing national officers at its National Delegates Congress on Saturday, December 19, 2026.