Asiedu Nketia, middle, addressing the media
The National Democratic Congress (NDC), has declared the campaign season for the party’s upcoming presidential primary opened with immediate effect.
According to the party, opening the campaign window earlier than expected was to offer aspirants the ample time to interact with delegates so as to effectively sell their campaign messages to them.
The party has also postponed the date for its regional elections, originally scheduled for August 25 to September 1.
The party is also expected to converge at a yet to be determined venue to elect its national officers on September 21.
The General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, at a press conference in Accra yesterday explained why the party decided to lift the lid on the campaign season earlier.
“Ordinarily, we would have concluded all internal elections before opening the space for campaigning and declaration of intentions but we realised that if we are to wait till we finish our internal elections, the time will be too short for the aspirants to stake their claim to the flagbearership.
“What this means is that anybody who intends to contest the slot will 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 and activities of any such person.
“The notification will enable the party to offer the candidates the necessary courtesies and to open an even playing field for the aspirants.”
Setting the rules for the contests, Mr. Nketia, popularly called General Mosquito said the party had taken note of some pronouncements by people “pretending to be flagbearer aspirants” and realised that some of the utterances were not in good taste.
“Now that we have officially opened the campaign, we will be monitoring. We want to caution all those who want to lead this party to conduct a campaign that is decent, decorous in terms of the choice of language and that is devoid of personal attacks,” General Mosquito stated.
The NDC, per its constitution, must elect a flagbearer latest by December 7, 2018, two clear years ahead of the 2020 general elections.
Persons to have declared their intention to contest the slot include former President Mahama, Second Deputy Speaker, Alban Bagbin, Joshua Alabi, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra, Sylvester Mensah, former Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority and Elikplim Agbemava, a legal practitoner.
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