Dozens of supporters of two disqualified parliamentary aspirants in the Northern region say the NDC vetting committee is being selective in applying the criteria for disqualification.

The supporters of aspirants, the DCE for Chereponi Hajia Mary Nakobu and Mohammed Ali, who were vying for the respective seats at Chereponi and Yagba/Kubori say they want their favorites to be re-instated.

DCE gets disqualified

Sympathisers of disqualified for Chereponi Hajia Mary Nakobu is arguing the process is selective because the basis for disqualifying Hajia ought to also apply to an aspirant for Bimbilla Dr Manboah Rockson who has been cleared.

Hajia Mary Nakobu and Mohammed Ali were not named in the list of aspirants who had been cleared to contest the November 7 parliamentary primaries after vetting committee proceedings held Sunday 27, September ended.

The Vetting committee disqualified Hajia Mary Nakobu after she was linked with the break-away party, the National Democratic Party (NDP).

Hajia Mary Nakobu

The party has made it clear that aspirants who earlier went independent in 2012 after losing in the previous parliamentary primaries will be disqualified.

The party’s General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia who heads the vetting committee for the Northern sector has insisted that loyalty to the party is a key criterion for assessing an aspirant.

In the middle: Johnson Asiedu Nketia

Hajia was accused of sponsoring a candidate of the NDP formed by Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, the wife of the NDC’s founder Jerry Rawlings.

Hajia denies the allegations and insists that there is no way she could have been appointed DCE if her loyalty was questionable.

“I did not voluntarily step down, I was asked to do so because it was alleged I brought NDP to Chereponi” she told some media outlets.

The DCE is one of the only 3 female parliamentary aspirants in the region.

Mohammed Ali supporters fight back

Mohammed Ali was also disqualified after his membership of the party was questioned. The Yagba/Kubori constituency chairman allegedly denied knowing the aspirant during the vetting

Together with a former constituency secretary, the two are vouching for the commitment and contribution of Mohammed Ali

“They all knew the guy. He has been working for the constituency not today…. This is what we don’t understand.

“We can’t take it” he fumed. 

Mohammed Ali and Hajia are among seven candidates who have been reported by the party as having stepped down.

The General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia says their filing fees will be refunded to them. Three other aspirants were also disqualified outright.

The Northern region has the highest number of parliamentary aspirant with 120 vying for 31 seats.

The number has been pruned to 110 candidates.

Chereponi politics

The Chereponi seat has been held four times by the governing NDC and three times by the opposition New Patriotic Party NPP after

Doris Asibi Seidu first won the seat for the NPP in 2004 and 2008. But she died on 31 July 2009 after an illness. In the bye-election, the NDC recaptured the seat it had held in 1992, 1996, 2000 and retained it in 2009.

But in December 2012, NPP candidate Azumah Namoro Sanda took back the seat. The Chereponi seat is expected to be a fierce battle when the NDC and NPP slug it out in December 2016.