Members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) aspiring to contest the forthcoming parliamentary elections on the ticket of the party are required to pick nomination forms on Monday February 28, 2011. Candidates wishing to enter the august house of parliament on the ticket of the NPP, according to the Ashanti regional secretary of the party, Samuel Pyne, are mandated to pick forms from the party’s regional secretariat across the country before the exercise ends on March 6, 2011. In an interview with Daily Guide, the regional secretary noted that aspirants who satisfied article 94 of the 1992 constitution as well as articles 3, 11 and 17 of the party’s constitution would be eligible to pick the forms. Article 94 of the 1992 constitution talks about entrenched conditions one must satisfy before being eligible to contest parliamentary polls in the country, whereas articles 3, 11, 17 of the NPP constitution spells out conditions like membership, conduct and other directives of the party. Mr Pyne, who is an English tutor at the Kumasi Anglican Senior High School (SHS), disclosed that prospective candidates were required to pay an amount of GH¢1,000 in order to collect the nomination forms. The GH¢1,000 nomination fees, the NPP regional secretary explained, should be in a banker’s draft addressed to the accounts of the party’s national headquarters in Accra. After picking the nomination forms and returning it to the party’s respective regional secretariats, the prospective candidates would be taken through a process of certification, Mr Pyne said. Noting that the aspiring candidates would be required to pay a fee of GH¢2,000 for the certification exercise, the NPP regional scribe said the regional officers of the party would use the occasion to certify the nomination forms of the candidates. “Even after this process, the aspirants would be mandated to go through another certification exercise at the national headquarters, where they would be required to pay an amount of GH¢3, 000,” he continued. After successfully going through these important stages, the prospective candidates, he pointed out, as per the rules governing the impending parliamentary primaries exercise, would be made to pay an amount of GH¢10,000 as development fee by March 12, 2011. Mr. Pyne disclosed that vetting of prospective candidates would commence at the various regional secretariats of the party from March 18 to March 26, 2011 to finally endorse candidates who could contest the parliamentary primaries. Indicating that it was the hope of the party that prospective candidates would abide strictly by the rules of engagement set out for the upcoming exercise, the regional secretary noted that the primaries would be conducted across the country on April 30, this year. Source: