By: Nicholas Osei-Wusu
All 85 Parliamentary aspirants for the NDC, vetted for the party’s primaries have been given the green card to contest in the internal elections.
Among the aspirants is one Masawuda Mubarick, who is contending Alhaji Mohammed Mubarack Muntaka for the Asawase seat.
Six of the aspirants have been officially declared Candidates of the NDC in their respective Constituencies after they were unopposed upon the close of nominations and satisfying all the eligibility criteria after their vetting.
The Ashanti Regional Secretary of the NDC, Dr. Frank Amoakohene, disclosed this at a media briefing in Kumasi at the end of the regional vetting proceedings.
The 85 applicants were from 36 out of the 47 Constituencies in the Ashanti region. A team comprising both regional and national officers of the party using a general party Guidelines used three days to scrutinize all the applicants.
The applicants were made up of 71 men and 14 women.
According to the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the NDC, Dr. Frank Amoakohene, briefing the media after the vetting said all five petitions brought by some members of the party against some of the aspirants were dismissed after scrutiny for lacking merit.
He explained that the aspirants were vetted according to requirement of an MP in the 1992 Constitution, aspirants’ party membership status, among others.
He said after the three days of the vetting, none of them was disqualified. Six of them have been cleared to contest the 2024 parliamentary elections unopposed. They include candidates for Tafo, Kumawu and Akrofuom constituencies. However, the majority of the aspirants are being keenly contested.
Prominent among such aspirants are the immediate past Minority Chief Whip in Parliament, Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarack who is being contested by one Masawudu Mubarick for the Asawase slot.
The incumbent MPs for Ejura-Sekyeduamse and New Edubiase are also being contested.
The Regional Secretary of the NDC gave the vetted aspirants the green light to undertake their campaigns but asked them to do so devoid of insults or mudslinging since it is an internal contest.
Dr. Amoakohene said the NDC is ready to win political power to assume government in 2025.
He explained that nominations for the remaining 11 Constituencies in the region will be opened later but was short of giving any specific details regarding when and why those areas have been put on hold.
The NDC has decided to organize decentralized joint Presidential and Parliamentary primaries on the 13th of next month to settle on its Flagbearer and Parliamentary Candidates for next year’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections.