PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSED BY THEOPHILUS KOFI AMPAH ON THE 23rd NOVEMBER 2015 ON THE JUST ENDED NDC PARLIAMENTARY PRIMARIES AT GOMOA EAST CONSTITUENCY

Good day ladies and gentlemen of the press and the public I thank you very much for accepting my invitation to attend this press conference at my private residence at Gomoa Nyanyano.

I take this opportunity to salute and greet H.E. President John Dramani Mahama and his workaholic wife Mrs Lordina Mahama. The first lady's deeds give meaning to the old adage - behind every successful man, there is a strong woman.

I also salute our indomitable General Secretary, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia who has led his troops into two general elections and have come out victoriously on both occasions. The 2016 general elections may be his swansong and therefore I am sure he is going to strain every sinew in his small body to ensure the NDC victory come 2016.

I seek to speak directly to the General Secretary of the great NDC Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia through this press conference.

The parliamentary primaries for aspirants are over and in Gomoa East where I was an aspirant, and apparently Mr. Desmond De-Graft Paitoo is being proclaimed the winner.

I do not accept the outcome of the election as the true reflection of the actual verdict of the people on two counts.

One, Mr Paitoo was disqualified by the Functional Executive Committee (FEC) through a press released issued on the 15th October 2015 and signed by the Dep. General Secretary Mr Koku Anyidoho. Again on the 23rd of October 2015, another release was issued by the same Dep. General Secretary clearing some constituencies on hold and disqualifying an aspirant and Mr Paitoo was nowhere mentioned in that release as illegible to contest.

The reason for Mr. Paitoo's diqualification was due to the fact that Mr Paitoo could not produce a Branch Party Membership card and credible evidence to demonstrate his active membership within the Gomoa East constituency for the past four years which is a key eligibility criteria detailed in the Election Guidelines.

I strongly believe that Mr Paitoo is not a true member of the NDC and a clear evidence is his inability to vote during just ended Primaries. I am hereby calling on the General Secretary to embark upon a full audit of Mr Paitoo's membership in the Gomoa East Constituency and elsewhere.

Two, there irregularities during the primaries key among them were;

• Mr Paitoo bused voters to polling stations even though the constituency warned all aspirants not to do so because the constituency provided transportation for voters.
• Mr Paitoo was personally spotted at the Buduata and Adabra Zion polling stations sitting and instructing EC officers on the issuing of ballot papers.
• There were no securities provided at some polling stations and Mr Paitoo's strongholds.
• Mr Paitoo's campaign manager at Nyanyano Kakraba was spotted holding the provisional voter register and insisting on people whose names were not found on the final register to vote. They succeeded in getting a lot of their supporters to vote through this illegal operation.
• The final register was not given to my team prior to the elections on the 21st November 2015 as detailed in the election guideline. etc.

In conclusion, I want the General Secretary Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia to put a spotlight on Gomoa East Constituency and investigate the above submissions with their deserved merits.

Long live the NDC!!!!!

Long live Gomoa East!!!!!

Thank you.