<<Print>>

All aspirants contesting substantive positions in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) branch in the Greater Accra Region will go through a rigorous vetting exercise and scrutiny today. The regional chairmanship position is being keenly contested by five aspirants, including the incumbent, Mr Joseph Ade Coker. Mr Henry Ekow Manly Spain, Mr Daniel Amartey, Nii Tackie Kommey and Mr Stephen Akwetey are the other aspirants, who are seeking to unseat Mr Coker. The vice chairmanship slot is being contested by five aspirants, while five people are vying for the regional secretary position. Four persons are for the regional organiser�s post, two for treasurer, propaganda six, women organiser three; deputy women organiser six; youth organiser two and deputy youth organiser nine. At the close of nominations last Saturday, 66 contestants had filed their nominations to contest the various positions in the region. Tomorrow, those contesting the vice chairman and deputy positions will also go through similar exercises. The four-member vetting committee, headed by Dr Robert Dodoo, Chairman of the Civil Service Council, will scrutinise aspirants to find out their loyalty to the NDC, what they were bringing on board to make the NDC more appealing and their knowledge in party affairs and governance in general. The committee would also be interested in the track record of members, as well as look at their background to make sure they have no criminal record and more important, whether they have registered as voters as the constitution of the party and that of the country demanded. The vetting is expected to last for two days after which the aspirants would prepare to face 335 delegates at a regional conference to elect the regional executive members. The delegates are composed of eight delegates from each of the 34 constituencies in the region, 20 Members of Parliament,16 metropolitan, municipal district chief executives,four ministers and a deputy minister who hail from the region, 10 national executives and 13 regional executives. The party had to reopen nominations after a controversial clause in its guidelines, which stated that �before a member contests the regional elections, the member should have held position at the lower level of the party or in government,�� was expunged. That clause did not go down well with the rank and file of the party, some of whom took the party to court for disqualifying them from contesting the elections. The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party then had to step in and expunge the clause from the guidelines, and that satisfied the aggrieved members and the cases settled out of court amicably.