107 candidates to contest parliamentary seats in C/R

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Created on Saturday, 10 November 2012 00:00

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10 November 2012

107 candidates to contest parliamentary seats in C/R

A total of 107 candidates from the 23 constituencies in the Central Region will be contesting for parliamentary seats in the 2012 December general elections.

The candidates are from the various political parties including the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), Peoples’ National Convention (PNC) and the Convention People’s Party (CPP).

Of the number, fifteen of them are women from eleven constituencies. Mr Serebour Quaicoe, Deputy Central Regional Director of the Electoral Commission, told the GNA on Wednesday in Cape Coast that seven of the total number are independent candidates.

Giving the breakdown, he said, Assin-South, Awutu-Senya-East, Effutu and Mfantseman have six candidates contesting in each of the constituencies, followed by five each for Komenda-Edna-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA), Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese (AAK), Gomoa-East, Awutu-Senya West, Agona-East, Agona-West, Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa, Assin-North as well as Upper-Denkyira East and Upper-Denkyira-West.

Four candidates each would be vying for seats in Cape Coast South, Ekumfi, Gomoa Central, Assin Central and Twifo AttiMorkwa and three each for Cape Coast North and Gomoa West.

Hemang Lower Denkyira constituency has only two candidates contesting.

Source: GNA/Ghana

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The Country He Has Divided Must Not Reward Him With Its Mandate

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Created on Friday, 09 November 2012 00:00

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10 November 2012

The Country He Has Divided Must Not Reward Him With Its Mandate

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

When in the wake of the tragic passing of President John Evans Atta-Mills, on July 24, 2012, he literally went down on his knees and wept like a child before the chiefs and people of Cape Coast, and pleaded with them to make him “A son of Fante soil and nation,” I knew right then that the then-Vice President John Dramani Mahama was darn too small-minded to be elected President of Ghana.

Back then, I called him by his real name, a suave and fawning political opportunist.

And then he followed the preceding nine-day antic up with his China-tailored confidence game by promising to build both a state-of-the-art sports stadium for the residents of Cape Coast and a complete remodeling and reconstruction of the Kotokuraba Market. He would tactically follow the preceding up with the strategic, albeit tribally-tailored, selection of Mr. Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur as his Vice-President as well as running-mate for Election 2012.

He must have erroneously fathomed that he had the mandate of the politically sophisticated Fante(s) down pat. In his quite flighty imagination, therefore, all that was left for him to do in order to cinch his stranglehold over the rest of the country, that is after having already “succeeded” in decisively splitting the majority Akan vote, was to roguishly pander to the basest instincts and sentiments of “tribal regionalism,” by suavely pretending as if northern Ghana was the especial electoral preserve of the native-born inhabitants of that upper-half landmass of the country. Such expedient pandering had, of course, been once employed to great effect by his recently deceased boss.

You see, any well-meaning Ghanaian citizen may be apt in caustically carping Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the presidential candidate of the main opposition New Patriotic Party, for his patent faux-pas mantra of “Yen Akanfo,” to wit, “We Ghanaians of Akan descent,” but it shamefully constitutes an untenable splitting of hairs to presume to expediently alienate an integral part of the organic whole, as he invidiously and flagrantly did when the now-late President Atta-Mills appealed to Akans of Fante sub-ethnic descent to blindly and massively offer him their electoral mandate, not primarily because he firmly believed that his party, the then-opposition but now-ruling National Democratic Congress had creditably acquitted itself in the indispensable matter of having laudably delivered on its electoral mandate, but merely because of the pure accident of him having been born into the Fante sub-ethnic community and nation.

Well, on Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, the website of the Multimedia-owned and operated MyJoyOnline.com, as well as other major Ghanaian-owned and operated websites, widely reported that during a campaign tour of his northern home-region, President Mahama had pontifically and rabidly told the chiefs and people of Nankpanduri that it was about time they sundered the shackles of southern Ghanaian political domination by blindly and massively voting one of their own into the august seat of the presidency “in order to make them proud.”

Indeed, it goes without saying that I have absolutely no qualms about the “proud” part of Mr. Mahama’s rather parochial appeal, except for the inescapably offensive part which, somehow, mischievously presumes the presidency to be essentially all about “pride” and pomp bereft of substance or any moral and contractual social responsibility, the way that Western thinkers like Jean Jacques Rousseau perceived the same.

What cannot be reasonably denied is the grim fact that his vicious attempt to both “ethnicize” and tendentiously “regionalize” Ghanaian politics indisputably renders Transitional-Prresident John Dramani Mahama a pathological opportunist and dangerous tribalist who cannot, under any circumstances whatsoever, be expected and/or trusted to govern the country with the functionally admirable poise of a statesman in the neoclassical sense of the term. It is also rather insulting for Mr. Mahama to pretend that this is the very first time in the 55-year-old history of our beloved country that a northerner is being presented with the “golden opportunity” – whatever that means – of being elected president.

As I have had occasion to recall in several previous articles, in 1979, Ghanaians overwhelmingly voted for Dr. Hilla (Babini) Limann, one of the most brilliant minds to have emerged on the national political scene from the North. I did not expect an incurably self-centered President Mahama to publicly acknowledge this “proud” and verifiable fact, being that it was the very ideological faction whose morbidly cynical ideals he now so fanatically champions which unconscionably toppled the Limann-led People’s National Party (PNP).

Anyway, in the landmark election of July 1979, the first Northern Ghanaian-born president won 62-percent of the popular votes, against the decidedly humbling 38-percent carried by Mr. Victor Owusu, leader of the Popular Front Party (PFP). And so whether his glaringly apparent belief that, indeed, President John Dramani Mahama could facilely take Southern Ghanaian voters for granted and for a ride, remains to be seen.

*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English, Journalism and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. He is Director of The Sintim-Aboagye Center for Politics and Culture and author of “Sounds of Sirens: Essays in African Politics and Culture” (iUniverse.com, 2004). E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . ###

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Asantehene urges political parties to show genuine commitment to peace

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Created on Friday, 09 November 2012 00:00

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09 November 2012

Asantehene urges political parties to show genuine commitment to peace

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, has appealed to the leadership of the political parties to demonstrate genuine commitment to peace through tolerance, integrity and fair play.

{sidebar id=10 align=right}He said the parties should not hesitate to publicly condemn deviant acts by their supporters.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu made the appeal when he received the presidential candidate of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to his Manhyia Palace, in Kumasi on Thursday.

Nana Akufo-Addo called on the Asantehene to formally introduce his running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia to him.

The Asantehene said it is important for all to accept to play by the “rules of the game” to sustain the unity of the nation.

Nana Akufo-Addo pledged the total commitment of his party to the peaceful conduct of the December 7 general poll.

He said the NPP would strictly abide by the political parties code of conduct and would not do anything to mar the elections.

He said the party believes in clean, transparent and fair elections, adding that the resort to violence, spilling of blood and cheating to win political power are despicable acts.

Nana Akufo-Addo noted that there are a lot of lessons that the nation could learn from the just ended presidential elections in the United States such as the maturity, tolerance and discipline put on display, despite the political and ideological differences.

He invited his colleague politicians to show more responsibility in their electioneering to protect the global admiration Ghana has earned as a stable democracy.

He gave the assurance that if given the mandate to lead the nation, he would do everything possible to construct the Kejetia Interchange and upgrade the Kumasi Airport to international status.

From: GNA/Ghana

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Help, I can't decide what Presidential Candidate I like

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Category: Politics

Created on Friday, 09 November 2012 00:00

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10 November 2012

Help, I can't decide what Presidential Candidate I like

A week or so ago I summoned the courage to watch the Ghana presidential debate and I came away with several inconclusive conclusions.

First, I like current president John Mahama as a person. I even liked a lot of what he said and how he said it. He seemed gentle and convincing, and the kind of person I would like to see represent my country overseas. He was also very thoughtful in his responses.

{sidebar id=12 align=right}The problem is I don’t like his party. Nothing about the NDC appeals to me. Most of the party members, including the party’s now-disgruntled founder, are reckless people and too crude (uncultured) for my liking.

Already Mahama has surrounded himself with that lot and they are bound to multiple like flies around him should he stay in power. Ghana deserves better.

Nana Akuffo Addo of the NPP I found to be quite arrogant, in juxtaposition to John Kuffuor, who had a gentle, humble demeanor. Addo seemed very sure of himself, and almost disrespectful in the way he addressed questions.

It’s not confidence I see, as I know some would like you to believe. It’s foolish pride. His responses were too rehearsed and lacking feeling and emotion. I was not convinced by a lot of what he said and I don’t believe he can connect with the average Ghanaian.

There’s something elitist about Akuffo Addo that makes me feel that he’s not going to be an inclusive, open-minded leader.

BuT, once again, the problem is I do like the NPP as a party and what its founders stood for. Adu Boahen was a real political hero. He was an honorable man who lived and died in absolute service to country. I would like to see his party back in power, but with a less flagrant flagbearer.

The CPP’s Abu Sakara is a fine man. He reminds me of my father in terms of his passion and eloquence. But his ideas, I found to be stale and archaic. When Sakara talked about broadening our economic base, a lot of what he espoused related back to the extraction industry, for which Ghana is already too dependent on.

I was hoping he would talk about financial services and hi-technology. We don’t need any more new subsistence crops to grow in Ghana. We have enough.

PNC’s Hassan Ayariga is a fresh face -- new blood in our political system. I’ve always said that Ghana needs a new breed of politicians, and not the same old tired leaders we recycle among the two main political parties.

He also seems very passionate about his beliefs, which he dispensed with a healthy dose of humor. A president that can laugh at himself is unique in Africa. Most African leaders can barely crack a smile. But for all his sense of humor, Ayariga lacks common sense ideas.

I cannot in good conscience vote for a man who is opposed to free education because he thinks it will create too many “avoidable graduates.” Education in itself has value, Mr. Ayariga.

A population of unemployed educated masses is better than a population of unemployed illiterates.

So, here you have it. In my mind my choice is between the good, the bad, the ugly and the dummy. It’s an unfortunate dilemma and if I can’t resolve it soon enough, I’ll stay home on voting day and drink akpeteshie to sleep.

Source: The Monk

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