Akufo-Addo to get 90% primaries votes – MP

A Member of Parliament (MP) of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has predicted that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the 2012 presidential candidate, will win the final primaries of the party with over 90% of the valid votes cast. But the MP revealed that Hon. Joe Ghartey, the Second Deputy Speaker, and other contestants would garner a zero vote.

Hon. Ofosu Asamoah, the MP for the Kade Constituency, declared his unalloyed support for Nana Akufo-Addo, the 2008 NPP presidential candidate. He debunked the assertion that MPs throwing their weight behind any of the seven leading members of the NPP, who have filed to contest to become the 2016 presidential standard-bearer was against the rules of the party.

He explained that the party rules allowed MPs to route for any aspirant but the legislators were not permitted to support that person on behalf of his or her constituency. Yet he later assured that the Executives of the Kade Constituency were backing Nana Akufo-Addo to win the primaries.

The seven aspirants who have filed to compete for the ticket of the NPP include Nana Akufo-Addo, Alan K. Kyerematen, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Hon. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, Hon. Francis Addai-Nimoh, Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, aka Asabee, and Hon. Ghartey. A special delegates' congress may be held to cut the number to five contenders when the vetting committee approves the candidature of all the seven aspirants. According to the NPP's constitution, if the number of aspirants exceeds five, the number would have to be reduced to five at the special congress.

Speaking as a panelist with Kwesi Pratt, Managing Editor of The Insight, on 'Dwaso Nsem' morning programme on Adom FM, an Accra-based radio station, yesterday, Hon. Asamoah indicated that some of the contestants were in the race just to contribute money to the party because they know very well that they would not get the nod to lead the NPP.

When Captain Planet, the host of the programme, asked what percentage of the votes Alan Kyerematen would get, Hon. Asamoah retorted: “You won't start with those who will get zero?” He then mentioned Hon. Ghartey's name. He would not concede to the promptings of the host that it was unfair to do that. He insisted that his determination of the person who would win the NPP presidential slot was based on sound analysis.

Hon. Asamoah agreed with Pratt that the insults and negative allegations by some NPP members against Paul Afoko, the national chairperson, and Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, the party's General Secretary, and some of the presidential aspirants were counter-productive and would affect the electoral fortunes of the NPP.

But then, he described the chances of Asamoah Boateng, a former Minister for Information and Local Government, Rural Development and Environment under the Kufuor administration, as dim, stating that he under-performed when he was the Local Government, Rural Development and Environment Minister. When Asabee called the radio station to respond to Hon. Asamoah's remarks, Captain Planet said the MP was out of the studio. Asabee then condemned the MP's statements as immature, recalling that the law-maker begged him for money when he was in government, and he obliged.

Hon. Asamoah is not the first MP to come out publicly and support Nana Akufo-Addo's third bid to run for the Presidency. A few weeks ago, Ayorkor Botchway, the MP for Anyaa-Sowutuom constituency, said 100 MPs supported Nana Akufo-Addo, to the discomfort of the other aspirants.

The aspirants are expected to appear before a nine-member vetting committee soon to be queried about satisfying the requirements of the NPP constitution, Agyapong told Kwami Sefa- Kayi, the host of Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme. He said the National Council would be reconstituted soon to compose members of the vetting committee. He was not certain whether the NPP would go for the special congress since it was probable that some of the seven aspirants could be disqualified by the committee.