1 December 2018
The National Council of Elders,
National Democratic Congress.
Attn: HE President Jerry John Rawlings, Chairperson
PETITION
“GUIDELINES FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE ELECTION OF A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OF THE NDC PURSUANT TO ARTICLES 40 & 42 OF THE CONSTITUTION”
Your Excellency,
We, the undersigned are respectively NDC members in good standing and aspirants for the position of NDC Presidential Candidate in the 2020 elections.
On Thursday 29th November 2018 the General Secretary of the NDC held a Media conference at the Party Headquarters in Adabraka, Accra. At this event the General Secretary reported decisions of the National Executive Committee (“NEC”) concluded the previous evening relating to the guidelines for upcoming Presidential primaries. We have since had sight of a document titled “Guidelines for The Conduct of The Election of a Presidential Candidate of The NDC Pursuant to Articles 40 & 42 of the Constitution” (hereinafter “Guidelines”) which are consistent with the General Secretary’s presentation and which we believe to be the Guidelines purportedly approved by NEC.
We have reviewed these Guidelines and find them inimical to the interests of the NDC. We are hereby petitioning the National Council of Elders of the NDC in accordance with Article 24(4)(a) of the Party Constitution to intervene to prevent irreparable harm to the Party.
Our specific issues with the Guidelines are as follows:
We expand on these concerns as follows.
As you are aware Article 42(1)(f) of the Constitution provides that:
The National Executive Committee in consultation with the National Council of Elders shall issue guidelines on the election of a Presidential Candidate based on the provisions of this Article”
We note that:
We refer again to Article 42(1)(f) and the scope of authority given to NEC i.e. to “issue guidelines on the election of a Presidential Candidate based on the provisions of this Article”.
NEC, as a subordinate body to Congress, can only exercise authority that Congress has specifically delegated to it (except in accordance with Article 52 where there is no Constitutional provision covering a particular matter). NEC does not have the authority to impose additional eligibility criteria on candidates or aspirants. That would amount to amending the Party Constitution through the backdoor. NEC can only regulate the implementation of the eligibility criteria provided for in the Constitution itself. The provisions of Section 8(1)(a) of the Regulations that purport to impose a 10-year membership requirement on aspirants are thus unlawful, null, and void.
Section 9 of the proposed Guidelines imposes the following filing fees on aspirants:
We oppose these fees on the grounds that they call the Party’s fundamental commitment to social democracy into question. Their mere publication has brought the Party into negative controversy. As a social democratic Party NDC must always be committed to breaking down class and social barriers and building a more inclusive politics and society. Our mission is to empower those currently marginalised by our elitist social institutions and bring them into public life in ways that strengthen productivity and solidarity, thereby increasing wealth for all. The imposition by NEC of filing fees that would exclude the vast majority of Party members from offering themselves for office is unacceptable to us and (from the public outrage exhibited over the last 24 hours) to Party activists and citizens in general.
As regards precedent we observe that these fees are entirely out of line with the Party’s own historical practice. For example, in the NEC elections held just 2 weeks ago the fees for contestants for the position of Chairman were GHS 10,000.00 and that of General Secretary, GHS 8,000.00. We note further that in 2012 and 2016 filing fees for the Presidential Primaries were pegged at GHS 60,000 and GHS 100,000.00 respectively.
We are deeply concerned that the efforts of the General Secretary, and other spokespersons to justify these fees have if anything deepened the reputational damage to the Party. For example, in his interaction with the Media on Thursday 29 November the General Secretary offered a number of justifications for the NEC decision which we review below.
Our response is that NPP’s “property-owning” democratic practice is not and should never be NDC’s benchmark in such matters. Secondly, there is indeed comparative practice around the world that NDC could benefit from if the NEC or the FEC conducted a little bit of research before rushing to publish Guidelines. For example, filing fees could reflect:
Of course, this position is a complete distortion of the principles of social democracy. NDC must not see candidates as aspiring “concessionaires” whom the Party should milk up-front for the benefits available. The corollary to this is of course the position that, having paid the Party for the position, once elected an office bearer is entitled to use his or her office to amass wealth for himself or herself. We should not treat aspirants as offenders who must be penalized for vaulting personal ambition. We must see leadership as an opportunity to serve – with fairness and accountability and arrange our processes accordingly.
None of the justifications offered by NEC for the proposed high fees hold water. It is difficult in these circumstances to accept that NEC has been truthful to the Party or the public about its motivations.
NEC proposes that the entire electoral process be completed within 45 days from 5 December to 19 January. We object to this as unreasonable.
NEC has offered no explanation for this indecent haste to conclude this process. We submit that there is no benefit to the Party in such a rushed procedure. Elections are a political process affecting millions of Party members. They are not a matter of administrative convenience of the Party bureaucracy. Party members around the country must be given adequate time to meet with, hear from and evaluate the different candidates and what they have to offer to Party and Nation before making a choice.
There is ample reason to believe that key players in NEC are biased in favour of a particular aspirant and are intervening unlawfully in the Primaries campaign to achieve a favourable outcome for that candidate.
In these circumstances we do not believe that the NEC can be trusted to administer the Primaries fairly. We have resolved not to proceed under the proposed unlawful Guidelines. Accordingly, none of us will pick up nomination forms or otherwise comply with the unlawful Guidelines until our petition is heard and the issues set out are fully resolved.
Reliefs
We humbly request that:
We appreciate the need to act quickly. We are all available to meet with the Council or its representatives at short notice to further this discussion and move the Party forward.
Sincerely yours
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