NPP says register complaints are fixed as Kumasi officers' conference nears

Pinned summary · as of 05:40

The New Patriotic Party will choose its national officers at a delegates' conference in Kumasi on Saturday, 3 October. Its elections committee says the complaints aspirants raised about the delegates' register have been examined and put right. The contest still has 45 aspirants after two dropped out.

What we know

• The NPP is due to pick its national officers on 3 October at the Baba Yara stadium in Kumasi.
• Aspirants questioned entries in the delegates' register before the vote, and the party's elections committee says it has reviewed the complaints and made corrections where needed.
• Committee chairman Frederick Opare Ansah, speaking on Channel One TV, said the committee does not draw up delegate lists. Regions and institutions send in albums, which it merges into the register, and he said contestants' local knowledge helped it check disputed names. He admitted the validation exercise had been difficult but said the committee stays open to further engagement.
• Two aspirants have withdrawn, leaving 45 people contesting the various positions.
• The party has told journalists and bloggers that they must be accredited through its website to cover the conference, with applications closing on 21 September. It also plans a Media Village at the stadium where media houses can set up studios, but reporters will be kept out of the stadium's inner perimeter and will rely on an official broadcast feed produced by the party's own team.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  The two reports give different closing dates for Media Village space. The Custodian says the party set Monday, 21 September, and would not consider later requests, while Kumasi Mail, citing the National Officers Elections Committee (NOEC), says requests were due by Friday, 18 September.
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  Kumasi Mail reports that NOEC said the final delegates register was complete and could be collected from 17 September, and that delegates can check their eligibility online with a one-time password sent after they supply either a phone number or a Voter ID number. It also reports that proxy voting will be allowed under a new framework, with the final Proxy Register expected on 27 September. No other report has confirmed these details.
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  According to Kumasi Mail, NOEC said votes will be counted on a tally system, that youth delegates will also choose the National Youth Organiser, that female delegates will also choose the National Women's Organiser, and that each delegate must pick three aspirants for the vice-chairperson posts. It adds that aspirants were asked to name printing agents and to submit names and photographs of polling agents, that delegates are due in Kumasi on the evening of 2 October, and that the conference opens at 9:00 a.m. on 3 October. These points come from Kumasi Mail alone.
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  The Custodian reports that a committee of nine members, chaired by Frank Davies, gave the National Council its amendment report on 10 September, after receiving more than 160 proposals. The committee said it wants no more than 20 substantive motions put to the conference. This account has not been confirmed elsewhere.
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  The Custodian says the committee's proposals include letting all card-bearing members in good standing vote in presidential and parliamentary primaries, which the committee tied to a Supreme Court ruling, and doubling the vice-chairperson posts to six, three of them appointed. It also lists formal recognition of the National Council of Elders, voting rights for chairpersons of Regional Councils of Elders, and a constitutional role for the Women's Wing. These are proposals the committee has put forward, reported by The Custodian only, and delegates have not yet debated them.

Why it matters for Ghana

The conference will settle who fills the NPP's top national posts, so doubts about the delegates' register bear on whether aspirants and delegates accept the outcome. Proposed changes that would widen who can vote in NPP primaries could affect card-bearing members in every region if delegates adopt them. Journalists covering the event will have to work from the media village and the party's broadcast feed rather than the inner areas of the stadium.