PNC Selects Mahama Again

Dr. Edward Nasigri Mahama, this morning, was elected as the presidential candidate for the People's National Convention (PNC) at the Party's Delegates Conference held in Bolgatanga. This is the fourth time the PNC has elected Dr Edward Mahama as its flag bearer.

He polled 534 votes to beat the other contestant, Professor Yakubu Saaka who got 400 votes.

The over one thousand delegates drawn from all the PNC constituencies also voted to elect their National Executives. Mr Benard Monah who contested for the General Secretary of the party polled 691 votes to beat his opponents Dr Somtim Tubiga and Mr Santua Niagia who got 154 and 106 votes respectively. The National Organizer went to Mr Bayirga Haruna who polled 362 to beat Mr Abubakari K. Ebla and Mr.Godly Baba Ali who got 318 and 250votes respectively.

The Member of Parliament of the Party for the Bolgatanga Constituency Mr David Apasera was elected as the National Treasurer of the party with 660 votes as against Mr David Nibi who polled 264 votes. Hajia Alima Ajara Ali was elected as the National Women Organizer with 634 votes as against her opponent Ms Patricia Kanji who got 281 votes.

Mr Emmanuel Wilson got the National Youth Organizer with 710 votes to beat his contestant Mr Iddrisu Andani Mu-azu who had 215 votes. The position of Vice Chairman was deferred to a later date due to the uncertainty about the exact number of people contesting the position.

Dr. Edward Mahama in his victory speech said the real winners of the elections was the Party, because of the way it was held peacefully and successfully, and that the elections is a sign that the Party's self inflicted wounds had healed.

He said it was also a victory for Ghana's democracy. Asked by Journalists, after his election whether he was not tired of being the presidential candidate, Dr. Mahama said the commitment of the people kept him going on.

He thanked the security services and the media for their good work and urged journalists not to relent in giving good coverage to the opposition parties.

Mr Adams M. Iddrisu, Upper East Regional Director of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) supervised the election. Meanwhile the elections, which were scheduled to start on Saturday morning dragged on to the early hours of Sunday. 02 Dec. 07

Effah DartehS' Past Catches Up With Him

One of the flagbearer aspirants of the ruling New Patriotic Party, retired Captain Nkrabeah Effah Darteh has been disqualified from the race. The party’s vetting committee took the decision on Friday afternoon. It was his dream to bring change to the people of Ghana through his message of better governance, law and order and human development. But Retired Captain Nkrabeah Effah Darteh is not going to live the dream. The party’s vetting committee disqualified the retired captain based on his previous record of an attempted coup maker as an officer of the Ghana Armed Forces. The report of the committee says he was convicted of treason by a military court in 1981. Article 62 clause 94 of the National Constitution bars any person with record of treason from contesting for president. Although the retired captain was granted pardon for the offence, the committee decided he couldn’t be allowed to contest because the 1992 Constitution of Ghana bars any person once charged with a treasonable offence from seeking the highest office of the land. Party Chairman Peter Mac Manu confirmed the decision at a news conference. Captain Effah Darteh has spent a substantial amount of money to reach the vetting stage before his disqualification. But perhaps his biggest expenditure in his quest to be president so far is the ¢250 million he paid to the party as filing fees. That amount, according to a member of the vetting committee, Samuel Odoi Sykes, is not refundable.

NPP Aspirants' Fate Decided Today

..... All 18 paid their $25,000 non-refundable fee
The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) will today Friday announce a list of qualified presidential aspirants one of whom would lead the party in next year’s general elections to succeed President John Kufuor. The 18 presidential candidates went through a vetting process after they submitted nominations forms and paid a non-refundable fee of 250 million cedis ($25,000)

The non-refundable fee generated a lot of controversy with the media leading the charge and describing it as excessive. The media wondered how the presidential aspirants could afford such a high fee while the average Ghanaian is living in poverty.

Nana Ohene-Ntow is the general secretary of Ghana’s ruling party. From the capital Accra, he tells Voice of America (VOA) reporter Peter Clottey that all is set for the party’s announcement of possible presidential candidates.

“The applicants have all been vetted by the Vetting Committee. And we expect that any moment from now, the Vetting Committee would be presenting its report to the national executive committee. Once the vetting committee comes up with the list of people who have been cleared by the committee, those people would be presented at the congress, and they would contest,” Ohene-Ntow noted.

He said the party’s Vetting Committee has done its job and that Ghanaians would see their work after today’s announcement.

“As you know, 18 people have been vetted by the committee, the committee has the power to pass or to disqualify an applicant. I’m sure that if the committee has to disqualify any applicant, they would provide reasons. If they do disqualify anyone, that applicant within 48hours can appeal to the National Executive Committee against the decision of the committee, and in that instance the decision of the national executive committee shall be final. So, barring any disqualifications, we expect that the Vetting Committee will present to us a list of 18 who would be contesting on congress day on December 22^nd,” he said.

Ohene-Ntow said after the list of presidential aspirants is named, the party would then introduce them to partisans and the whole country amidst fanfare.

“On Sunday, the party would organize a platform in the central region, precisely at Kasoa during which all of those who have been cleared by the Vetting Committee to go to congress would be presented to the general public. They would be given the opportunity to showcase their ideas, and their visions and of course on congress day they would still have a chance to make a statement on what they intend to do should they be elected as presidential candidate of the party,” Ohene-Ntow pointed out.

He said although the party has been criticized for what some have called exorbitant non-refundable nomination fee, none of the presidential aspirants have complained about it.

“These are conditions that we stated very clearly in the application forms. And I’m sure you would know that the whole process was voluntary, no one was coerced to come and pick up the forms. And no one was coerced to return them and subsequently to file the nomination. And we take it that all those who picked up the forms and went ahead to file their nominations, read and understood the conditions, and ready to abide by them,” he noted. Clottey Interview With Nana Ohene-Ntow Listen to Clottey Interview With Nana Ohene

Source:

VOA

Ghana Ranks 136 in Human Dev't

Inches Closer Towards 2000 High Mark
... 78% get less than $2 per day income

Ghana ranks as the 135^th best country to live in the world according to a United Nation report released today. It moves one place up in regard to the 2006 report, but still seven places down from her high of 128^th in 2003 and 1995. (read)

Ghana’s Human Development Index(HDI) value improved from 0.532 to 0.553 - which shows the country inching closer to her highest rate of 0.556 in 2000

The HDI launched by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on annual basis measures country’s performance in terms of improvement in life such as life expectancy, education attainment, health indicators and increase in real incomes.

Despite remaining a beacon of democracy, peace and stability in the sub region, the quality of life for most Ghanaians has not seen much improvement and has actaully dipped from the highs of 2000.

The report states that "In Ghana, half of children in the droughtprone northern region are malnourished, compared with 13 percent in Accra" .

The Human Poverty Index shows that there are 44.8% having less than $1 per day income and 78.5% of population lives below $2 per day income in Ghana.

The national poverty line stood at 39.5% in accordance with 2004 data

Ghana is ranked among "medium human development" countries and territories, scoring less than Botwana(124), Namabia(125), Gabon(119) and South Africa(121).

Ghana scores better than Nigeria(158), Senegal(156) and all of it's other west African neigbours.

Iceland, Norway, Australia, Canada and Ireland rank as the best five countries to live.

The 20 worst countries to live in are all from sub-saharan Africa. The worst five are: Mali, Niger, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso with Sierra Leone at the bottom of the pack.

Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia were not included in the 177 countries ranked

Selected Data for Ghana

(last year's data in brackets))

• Life expectancy at birth = 59.1(57)
• Adult literacy rate (% ages 15 and older) = 57.1(57.9)
• Combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio (%) = 50.7 (47.2)
• GDP per capita (PPP US$) =2480 (2,240)
• Adult illiteracy rate (%ages 15 and older) 42.1 (42.2)
• % of People without access to an improved water source = 25 (25)
• URL Ghana Fact Sheet

Source Ghanaweb.com