President John Mahama will face his party’s vetting committee despite being the only aspirant to file nominations for the presidential primaries of the governing National Democratic Congress.
“The President will be vetted,” in accordance with party rules, Deputy NDC General Secretary Koku Anyidoho told Joy News Monday.
The President who is out of the country will reach an agreement with the party leadership to find a convenient date for the vetting, he explained.
The Deputy NDC General Secretary explained that John Mahama being the sole presidential aspirant does not rule out the party’s requirement to vet an aspirant.
“We want to play by the rules. We don’t want to leave any window of opportunity for some agent provocateurs to jump through,” Koku Anyidoho emphasized.
The vetting is expected to be a formality after the party sent strong signs that the President is the party’s best choice for December 2016 general elections.
Despite opening nominations for presidential primaries, the NDC national executives warned presidential aspirants to properly assess themselves before challenging the president.
“Facts are facts….If you are coming you have to check yourself,” First National Vice-Chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, told Joy News after the President’s nomination forms was picked on his behalf.
The party suffered embarrassment last month after a 45-year old polling station youth organizer, George Boateng, purportedly picked up presidential nomination forms to contest Mahama in the November 7 presidential primaries.
The ruling party is set for nationwide parliamentary and presidential primaries on November 7.
The National Democratic Congress has also strongly warned that any parliamentary aspirant who broke ranks with the party and went independent in the 2012 elections will be disqualified.
“The rules says that immediately you go independent, you have dismissed yourself from the party” Koku Anyidoho told Joy News.
Repentant politicians who rejoin the party “must come and join the queue”, he said stressing that “laws are laws, rules are rules.”
This means the aspirant must have been in the party for at least four years to qualify for the parliamentary competitions. A returnee can, therefore, be at most three years at the time of filing nominations for the 2015 parliamentary primaries.
“That is why we keep insisting that if you have been disqualified, yes, initially you will be hurt but once the issues simmer you will come to realize that the party’s interest is larger than any interest,” Mr. Anyidoho said.
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