Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, has revealed that the party’s vetting committee doesn’t necessarily have to whittle down the number of aspirants vying for the position of a flagbearer.

According to him, although there were some speculations of the vetting committee reducing the number before the next stage for the aspirants is declared, he noted that that isn’t always the case. He indicated that all these ten aspirants were found to have qualified per both the party’s constitution and national constitution.

Mr Ahiagbah stated that as it stands, all of the ten aspirants have been found to be suitable going forward.

“It shouldn’t have to be the vetting committee’s mandate to whittle down the number. Of course, if an individual is found not to meet the minimum requirement to be President or represent that party, certainly, that individual will be dropped…”
Richard Ahiagbah

Mr Ahiagbah noted that going forward, the aspirants are now out and about in the country canvassing for vote among the special Electoral College that will be coming together to elect and whittle down the number.

He highlighted that the college includes every delegates in the party’s books, except the balance of polling station executives who will not be part and the constituency executives. With this, he stated that persons such as the constituency chairmen, regional executives, and national executives, representatives from the wing of the party, representatives from external branches, and others will be able to participate.

“So, it’s a limited [number], altogether I think about 900 colleges of electorates will be in that pool to select the top five. I think that the candidates are now going around trying to appeal to them with their message to go through this first hurdle and then be presented in the November 4 congress for consideration as the lead candidate or the flagbearer for the party. So right now, what I understand the candidates are doing is appealing to this special electoral college voters to consider them the most suitable for the position of flagbearer for the New Patriotic Party.”
Richard Ahiagbah

Special Electoral College elections to whittle down number

Meanwhile, Mr Ahiagbah has revealed that considerations are underway to determine the best way to organize the special Electoral College election. This, he explained, is to ensure that it’s efficient and it is done in a timely manner so that there will be some agreement on how it can be so everybody has confidence in it.

“So, the consideration, I’m pretty sure the national council will consider the ultimate format to conduct the 26^th August special college elections. I congratulate all ten aspirants at this point and wish them well in the next stage we are entering, I think the 26^th of August, the party will be constituting a special delegates election to screen the number down to five. That process, what we are looking at is that the top five highest vote scorers will be the ones who are presented to the bigger congress for our party’s delegates to choose to represent the party in the 2024 general election.”
Richard Ahiagbah

Commenting on what the party’s expectations are, Mr Ahiagbah stated that all ten aspirants must ensure they embody the vision of the party for the country as they go about in their campaigns. With this, he noted that the party has seen very interesting ideas come forth, where aspirants are building on the “grand NPP ideological position of ensuring that we develop this country by unleashing the production capacity of its people”.

“I have seen various rendition of ideas that take root in the primary vision. So, I think that that is what we are going to see across… They should focus on their message and make sure that in the end, we are holding together as a country, minimize attacks on each other, which I think I should commend all of them so far, that they’ve been focused on their message.”
Richard Ahiagbah