NDC Congress In Danger

The much-awaited national conference of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to elect national executive officers of the party scheduled for December 20, this year, is likely to be postponed indefinitely following a writ filed by the party's Member of Parliament (MP) for Afram Plains North, Emmanuel Aboagye Didieye.

The writ is meant to restrain the party from going ahead with the congress until a tangible explanation is given for his disqualification from the race as the aspiring national organiser.

The writ was filed on behalf of the MP by Obeng Manu Legal Consult in Sunyani.

The Aframs Plains North MP, who was disqualified by the vetting committee headed by Alban Bagbin, told DAILY GUIDE after serving the general secretary of the party with a copy of the writ yesterday that he wanted proper reasons to be given for his disqualification because as far as he was concerned, he met all the criteria to contest for the position of the national organiser.

He said that what was more worrying was that after the vetting committee had disqualified him on what he described as 'flimsy reasons', the party's General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, publicly came out to tell the whole nation that six candidates, including him (Didieye), had voluntarily withdrawn their candidacy from the race for various positions.

He explained that what the vetting committee told him was that most of the MPs who endorsed his form did not fill the form with information on their party ID cards.

According to  Didieye, that reason could not be a valid one because all NDC MPs are of good standing and also card-bearing members of the party and wondered what would make them 'unqualified' to endorse his forms.

“I know it is a grand scheme to kick me out of the race because they know I will either win or become a stumbling block to any of the other candidates' chances, depending on which of the candidates one supports,” he said, stressing that he would not allow himself to be sacrificed for other candidates.

“My mission is to contest and win. I stand for the youth and grassroots people but they want to prevent me,” he charged.

By Thomas Fosu Jnr