NDC Can't Get Candidates In Ashanti Region ?

The opening of nominations for prospective parliamentary candidates of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ashanti region is almost 70 days old, yet there are a number of the constituencies where not a single nomination has been filed.

Chronicle can report that with barely three weeks left for the close of nominations on August 31, no nominations have been filed in the Bantama, Old Tafo-Suame, Amansie West, Ahafo Ano North and South constituencies.

The current situation is reported to be causing constituency executives a lot of worries plunging them into crisis meetings to map out a strategy to secure viable candidates for the constituencies.

Commenting on the situation regional party secretary Mr. Sly Akakpovie said he was not in the least surprised. “In a region where NPP supporters have resorted to threats and massive intimidation of its opponents, we do not expect to have it easy securing candidates for all 33 constituencies.” He however expressed optimism that “at the end of the day we shall prove them (NPP) wrong and come out with candidates to win most of the seats in the region”.

He said in the event of the party’s inability to get candidates in some of the constituencies, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party would be consulted for advice.

A number of party faithful who spoke to The Chronicle, however, blamed the current situation on the “colossal” nomination fee being demanded and appealed to the NEC to reconsider the amount.

They would want the party to take a number of factors into consideration before arriving at the current ?5 million nomination fee.

One party activist said in the Ahafo Ano South constituency, many people would have liked to contest in the primaries but they are not sure about their chances of winning in a NPP-dominated area and therefore see the ?5 million as too big an amount to gamble with.

Mr. Akakpovie however disagreed that the fee was too high saying the ?5 million was fixed by the NEC as a compromise figure.

According to him the amount was fixed at a meeting which deliberated on various proposals which ranged from ?2 million to ?15 million.

Akakpovie advised NDC supporters to discard the notion that the party will not win seats in the Ashanti region and urged all interested members to file their nominations, adding, “we will match NPP boot for boot and possibly share the seats in the region.”

He said, for example, there is no way the NPP can win 5,000 votes in the Ketu-North constituency in the Volta region yet NPP candidates had paid the same amount to file their nominations. “If an NPP men in the Ketu South and Ketu North constituencies can muster courage and file their nomination why can’t the NDC members do the same in Ashanti region?”

Mr. Akakpovie said the party has adopted a strategy dubbed “Operation Silent Trade”(OST) to render NPP strategies ineffective following intimidation of NDC supporters by the NPP.

He said during the operation NDC supporters would be advised to keep mute at political debates to avoid harassment by NPP functionaries.

Of late the leadership of both the NDC and NPP in the region have resorted to heated debates over who wins the majority of the seats in the NPP strongholds.

The NPP said the party will sweep all the 33 but the NDC said it has a surprise package for the NPP.