The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been forced to postpone its presidential primary to elect its flagbearer for the 2020 elections due to a suit brought against the party in December 2018 by two of its members.
NDC slated its presidential primary for Saturday, January 26, 2019.
However, the party hierarchy is expected to meet to reschedule a new date for the election.
Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Peter Boamah Otokunor told DAILY GUIDE in a telephone interview yesterday that the election could not proceed as planned due to the court action.
According to him, “The party is fighting for an out-of-court settlement so we will present our agreement tomorrow. When it is accepted we will proceed.”
He said that the race has been put on an indefinite hold until the agreement is accepted.
Financial Implications
Asked whether the postponement of the primary may not cause any financial burden for the aspirants as they would apparently have to extend their campaigns unexpectedly, the Deputy General Secretary indicated that the candidates were not likely to raise such concerns.
Each aspirant has coughed out GH¢300,000 as a filing fee and GH¢20,000 as nomination fee to contest in the party’s flagbearership race.
This is the second time the NDC is postponing its presidential primary.
On December 7, last year, the party could not hold the primary because it said its national executives had just come out of an election and needed time to prepare for the primary.
Background
It would be recalled that in December 2018, two members of the NDC- James Kabu Nartey and Abdallah Issah, took legal action against their party, challenging the rules and guidelines set for the presidential primary scheduled for January 26, 2019.
They prayed an Accra High Court to place an interlocutory injunction on the primary which was granted.
Substantive Case
The plaintiffs, in the substantive case, are praying the court to declare the published guidelines for the conduct of the party’s presidential primary as null and void.
They were also requesting the High Court to declare that the procedures adopted by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) in the preparation and presentation of the guidelines, together with the amendment without prior consultation of the National Council of Elders as unlawful.
Again, they want the NEC to organise the election in a free, fair and transparent manner while ensuring inclusiveness in accordance with the party’s Constitution.
NDC has also postponed the vetting of the presidential aspirants of the party, which was scheduled for January 20, 2019.
By Melvin Tarlue