Effah Darteh disqualified!

One of the flagbearer aspirants of the ruling New Patriotic Party, retired Captain Nkrabeah Effah Darteh has been disqualified from the race.

The party's vetting committee took the decision on Friday afternoon.

It was his dream to bring change to the people of Ghana through his message of better governance, law and order and human development.

But Retired Captain Nkrabeah Effah Darteh is not going to live the dream.

The party's vetting committee disqualified the retired captain based on his previous record of an attempted coup maker as an officer of the Ghana Armed Forces.

The report of the committee says he was convicted of treason by a military court in 1981. Article 62 clause 94 of the National Constitution bars any person with record of treason from contesting for president.

Although the retired captain was granted pardon for the offence, the committee decided he couldn't be allowed to contest because the 1992 Constitution of Ghana bars any person once charged with a treasonable offence from seeking the highest office of the land.

Party Chairman Peter Mac Manu confirmed the decision at a news conference.

Captain Effah Darteh has spent a substantial amount of money to reach the vetting stage before his disqualification. But perhaps his biggest expenditure in his quest to be president so far is the ¢250 million he paid to the party as filing fees.

That amount, according to a member of the vetting committee, Samuel Odoi Sykes, is not refundable.