NDC parliamentary aspirants to prove no dual citizenship — Asiedu Nketiah

The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has warned aspiring parliamentary candidates to ensure that they owe no allegiance to a foreign country.

He said persons based abroad who wish to run for office on the ticket of the party must, therefore, prove with documentation that they did not have dual citizenship.

“We don’t want to fall into this dual citizenship plot again so before you contest, you have to prove to us that you owe no allegiance to another country,” he said.

The NDC National Chairman announced the caveat at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, where the party’s time table for the election of parliamentary and presidential candidates was also announced by the General Secretary of the NDC, Fifi Kwetey.

Present at the press conference were the National Communications Officer, Samuel Gyamfi, Member of the NDC legal team, Baba Jamal, and former flagbearer aspirant, Sylvester Mensah, among others.

Resident Abroad
Addressing would be parliamentary candidates who reside abroad, Mr Nketiah said such persons would be required to stay in the country to campaign until the elections were over.

He said the party had taken that decision to avoid bitter situations that affected the fortunes of the party in the 2020 election.

“We want to avoid situations in 2020 when some of our parliamentary candidates were held abroad due to COVID-19 restrictions so this time you would have to remain here after winning the primaries until the main election is over,” Mr Nketiah said.

Time Table
The party will on May 13 conduct the final leg of internal elections to elect a flag bearer and 276 Parliamentary Candidates to lead the party into the 2024 election.

Persons interested in becoming parliamentary candidates of the party would pay a filing fee of Gh¢40,000 while flag bearer aspirants would be required to pay GH₵500,000.

Per the time table, nominations for aspiring parliamentary candidates would open on February 22 to 24 to make room for interested persons to pick nomination forms via the NDC website at a cost of GH¢5000 which must be paid via Mobile Money.

Although nomination for presidential candidates would also commence on February 22 to 24, interested candidates are required to pick nomination forms directly from the office of the General Secretary of the party and pay a fee of GH¢30,000 via banker’s draft.

However, female aspirants and persons with physical disabilities would be required to pay only 50 per cent of the fee charged.

Aspiring presidential and parliamentary candidates would be required to submit the completed forms between March 20 to 22 before vetting would commence on March 27 to 29.

There would also be a window for appeals on the outcome of the vetting process between March 30 to April 6 before the election on May 13.

The two elections would be held on the same day in all the voting centres in all the 276 constituencies including SALL, and the NDC headquarters would also constitute a voting centre.

Source: graphic online