Goosie Tanoh Picks Nomination Form

By Claude Nyarko Adams

A flagbearer aspirant of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Goosie Tanoh, on Saturday picked his nomination form to officially announce his participation in the party's upcoming flagbearship election.

Picked on his behalf by a team led by Eric Williams, Mr. Tanoh was the last of the flagbearer hopefuls to pick the forms as the nomination was closed later the same day.

"We want to thank our party, the NDC, for giving us this opportunity. The game has really started and it tells you that we are really in the race and we are serious about it and we believe that on the day of the election, things are going to favour us and we are asking all of you to support us. We are optimistic about his chances of leading the party into the 2020 elections," Mr. Williams stated.

This brings to eight, the number of aspirants to have officially picked nomination forms to contest for the position of leading the party in the 2020 presidential election.

They include former President John Dramani Mahama, Stephen Atubiga, Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, former Minister of Trade and Industry, Ekow Spio-Garbrah, former Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Sylvester Mensah, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra, Professor Joshua Alabi, Nurideen Iddrisu and Goosie Tanoh.

The deadline for picking forms, which was initially scheduled for December 4 this year, was extended following an intervention by the NDC Council of Elders who had been petitioned by some of the aspirants about the pegging of the filing fee at GH¢400,000.

At the end of the original deadline, five aspirants namely, former President John Dramani Mahama, Joshua Alabi; Sylvester Adinam Mensah; Stephen Atubiga, Alban S.K. Bagbin, had picked the nomination forms.

Peeved by the filing fee, the others refused to pick the nomination forms in protest of the decision by the National Executive Committee, describing it as "too high".

The Council of Elders subsequently caused the fee to be reduced to GH¢300,000 but maintained the fee for the nomination form at GH¢20,000.

They also pushed for the primaries to be held on January 26, instead of the initial January 19, 2019 date, and pushed nomination deadline to Saturday December 8, to allow for persons who could not pick forms more time to do so.

Meanwhile, two of the flagbearer hopefuls, Kojo Bonsu and Elikplim Agbemava have pulled out of the race.

Although he was among the eight flagbearer hopefuls who petitioned the NDC's Council of Elders for a decrease in the nomination and filing fee, Mr. Bonsu noted in a statement that he was pulling out of the race.

Despite his decision, he said his "boundless optimism for the long-term future of the NDC and Ghana at large remains steadfast. The fight is far from over. I am not ending the fight for unity and accountability and I am not ending the fight for victory for the NDC".

He assured of his readiness to work with the party and the eventual flagbearer to advance issues of importance to the country and called for unity after the elections.

In a statement copied Ghanaian Times, although no reason was cited for the decision, Mr. Agbemava, declared his support for former President John Mahama and urged his supporters to join him throw their weight behind the former President to lead the party and wrestle power from the incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP).

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