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Opinions of Thursday, 6 April 2023

Columnist: Kwaku Hope

NDC for sale

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) The National Democratic Congress (NDC)

Is it not of great concern that the NDC that many of us pride ourselves to be part of is gradually mimicking traits that can only be attributed to our brothers on the other side?

Our internal party corruption is too much. It is a big worry because those currently in party leadership positions are those the next NDC government can easily fall on for appointments.

Looking at how some regional officers especially those in the Greater Accra Region and their vetting committee are following the dictates of their stomachs, lest we forget what transpired recently in parliament; how sure are we that we will have it easy convincing Ghanaians we are a better party and should we win the next elections ; form a new government and that, we wont have such characters causing scandals?

On the basis of some portions of my second paragraph concerning what had happened in parliament recently, that I have been very interested in advocating for our party to do a thorough vetting of our parliamentary hopefuls to know their background in other to curtail what might hurt the party in the long run.

I wrote a petition against Ewurabena Aubynn, a parliamentary candidate hopeful in the Ablekuma North Constituency in the Greater Accra Region with compelling evidence of her forgery, her background as an NPP sympatizer, and how she managed to get members of her staff in two of her schools (some of them who do not even vote or stay in the Ablekuma North Constituency) into our party branch register; she made them pick up branch positions so that they become delegates to vote for her when she becomes a PC hopeful.

Assuming the vetting committee do not find the content of the petition enough grounds to disqualify Ewurabena Aubynn, I believe its fair that the petition should have been acknowledged. As shocking as it might be, her vetting went on smoothly as though she was one of those aspirants with an unquestionable profile. No mention was made about the petition against her.

Yesterday, on the 6th of April 2023, what I observed was that aspirants only entered the vetting room when their constituency was called but as cunning as this woman is after observing the people around and identifying key people who might be there purposely to see her get disqualified, and also a possible tip from the inside, she vanished into the vetting building way before Ablekuma North was called , and aspirants were admitted.

Only God knows what transpired during those long hours she was inside when it was not yet her turn. Reporting time for our constituency was 6:30pm vetting started after 11:00pm (approximated time). She was in that room for over 3 hours before aspirants from Ablekuma North were called in. These are serious issues that every party member must be concerned about.

As I am about to conclude let me share some opinions, I am not against any one moving from one party to join the other and having ambitions to be amongst the high ranks of his/her new party. Every party has their rules, their constitution they work with. The party says any person wishing to be a parliamentary aspirant on its ticket must have been 4 years in the party by the time of filling. If we are to go by Ewurabena's own records in the party's register she does not qualify to join the contest.

Furthermore this woman has worked against our political fortunes as party in our constituency in the past. She has been identified in one video in my possession where the then Kwashieman ward organizer by the name Abdul Azeez mentioned she knows this woman very well and that she was with Hon. Sheila Bartels ( the current NPP MP) campaigning with her during the 2020 elections period. This verifies pictorial evidences we gathered (which we added to the petition) about her involvement with Sheila Bartels campaign in 2020.

Now Ablekuma North Constituency has amongst its three(3) aspirants one who does not vote in Ablekuma north and has never voted there before, worse might have voted for the NPP all the time she was in Anya Sowutuom constituency, where she has contested as women organizer in NPP and lost.

Her real ambition might be to eventually become their parliamentary candidate but looking at the long queue she had to join and realizing that her ambition might be thwarted, she quickly found her way into Ablekuma North by virtue of her property (School/House, she runs the place as a Montessori but references it has her home when its convenient) . She was ushered to our constituency by Hajia Aisha Tofic Abdulai who introduced her to some key members of the constituency and now Hajia is no longer with her because in time her true motives were revealed.

Kwashibu ward (has 15 branches) where this aspirant claims she belongs; before was one of the most vibrant and united wards; a shining model to the other remaining wards is now in shambles. Ewurabena has never been known in the constituency or the party at large until recently. And even that she has managed through her inharmonious ways to create division in a ward which is supposed to be her backbone.

What will be the state of our 2024 campaign or constituency should this woman win the primaries and become our PC?

Ewurabena Aubynn whose real name is Randa Adukwei Lomotey, who has changed her name to suit her agenda(She believes only Akans can win that seat), might be playing a game that true party faithfuls might not realise in time. She might be the poison laden arrow head to completely destroy the NDC in Ablekuma north and make that seat a bonafide property or a perpetual safe haven for the NPP.

I have a copy of the petition letter with accompanying evidence to share with relevant stakeholders who want solid proof of claims I have made in this write up. I personally delivered them to the regional office: a copy each to the chairman and secretary which I had followed up and received a positive or affirmative response that it has reached their desks surprisingly it did not come up as topic at the vetting. Before submitting copies to the regional office I made sure a copy reached National through the 2nd Vice Chairperson Hon. Dr. Sherry Ayitey.