Hot!
Super Delegates Conference: Our goal was to have Alan Kyerematen in top 5, we succeeded – Buaben Asamoa
Presidential candidate Alan Kyerematen may have landed the third spot in the New Patriotic Party’s super delegate polls but his team remains unbothered by that result.
According to the spokesperson for the Alan Kyerematen campaign, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, their aim going into the Saturday conference was not to wrestle for first place but to secure a spot for the party’s primaries in November.
He explained, on JoyNews’ PM Express, that the super delegates conference was only meant for the “elite group” in the party to prune down the number of presidential aspirants.
This set of people, although part of the NPP, Mr Asamoa believes do not represent the over 200,000 delegates expected to partake in the flagbearer election in November.
“Yes, they (super delegates) are leaders of the party, but of course, they don’t represent the political opinion in the party…0.004% of 200,000…961 persons representing 200,000 grassroots delegates? We don’t believe that they are representative of the mood and opinion down there.”
“He was supposed to be part of the five and that’s it. We’ve achieved that…We didn’t go in looking for a placement. We didn’t care as long as we were in the five,” Mr Asamoa said.
On Saturday, August 28, six NPP presidential aspirants successfully sailed through the party’s Super Delegates Conference.
The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia led with 68.15% (629) of the total votes cast, followed by Kennedy Agyapong who polled 15.03% (132) of the total votes cast.
Alan Kyerematen came in third with 10.29% (95) of the total votes cast, and Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto came fourth with 3.90% (36).
Although the Super Delegates Conference was expected to help select five candidates, two candidates, Francis Addai Nimo and Boakye Kyeremateng Ayarko, tied for fifth place with nine votes each.
Meanwhile, the Alan Kyerematen campaign spokesperson remains confident that the result in November will be completely different dismissing claims that the party’s history proves otherwise.
“History is not repetitive. So, the history of Nana Addo and Alan Kyerematen is a contest of two very strong personalities fighting for the favour of this party and this party determining that Mr Kyerematen must wait his turn for Nana Addo to have a crack at the presidency.”
As a result, the party rallied behind now President Akufo-Addo garnering more support from him in the lead to the flagbearer selection, Mr Asamoa said, adding pressure was placed on Mr Kyerematen to not run at all.
“So that line is not because he, Kyerematen, declined in popularity, it was because the party was determined to consolidate support behind Nana Addo unequivocally so that the party could take Nanadu into the presidency, which we succeeded in doing,” he noted.
Mr Asamoa noted that the Alan Kyermaten camp is happy to continue their work and campaign in the lead-up to the national conference adding the super delegates conference “was a useful exercise for us.”
Source: Myjoyonline.com
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
More more more
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
