Proposed Constitutional amendment

THREE TO CONTEST NPP PRESIDENTIAL SLOT
…To avoid wholesale number of Aspirants

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

There are strong indications that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is likely to adopt a proposal for not more than three people to contest the position of the party’s Presidential Candidate.
This follows expression of satisfaction by certain key and influential members and groups in the party who believe their concerns have been fairly catered for by the proposal which is contained in the proposed amendment of the party’s Constitution drafted by the Steering Committee of the party and sent to the National Executive Committee (NEC) for possible adoption.
Under the current circumstance, the party is considering the option of adopting a strategy to avoid the wholesale type of Presidential contest, which saw 17 people jockeying for the position of Presidential Candidate during its last Congress.
In its proposed amendments of the party’s Constitution, a copy of which has been cited by The Chronicle, the Steering Committee stressed the need to manage the number of aspirants same position.
Whilst appreciating the fact that each and every member of the NPP has a democratic right to aspire to the position of Presidential Candidate of the party, the Committee noted that it should not be allowed to create sharp divisions, bad public image and waste of resources.
They therefore decided to adopt a better system, which would help in the selection and election of the party’s Presidential Candidate.
The Committee have thus made recommendations for a two-stage procedure to be evolved whenever there are more than three Presidential Aspirants.
In the first-stage of the procedure, the Committee agreed that a Special Electoral College should be made to vote and select three persons where there are more than three Aspirants at the close of nominations for the position of Presidential Candidate.
It made recommendations for this Special Electoral College to include the party’s National Council, National Executive Committee (NEC), Regional Executive Officers, National Council of Elders and Members of Parliament (MPs).
The rest include three representatives each of special organs of the party, past National Officers, ten representatives of external branches, all existing Founding Members during the registration of the party at the Electoral Commission (EC) and all card-bearing Ministers of the party, when the NPP is in government.
For this reason, each these delegate would be entitled and required to cast only one vote.
In the case of the second-stage of the procedure to select and elect the party’s Presidential candidate, it was the recommendation of the Committee that delegates would include the National Council, NEC, Regional Executive Officers, Constituency Executive Officers, Electoral Area Coordinators and five Polling Station Executive Officers in each constituency.
The rest shall include National Council of Elders, all MPs, three representatives each of the Special Organs of the party, past National Officers, three representatives from each external branch of the party, all existing Founding Members during the registration of the party at the EC, 15 patrons, one Tertiary Education Student Confederacy (TESCON) representative from each recognised tertiary institution and all card-bearing Ministers when the party is in power.
The Committee also made recommendations for the NEC, in consultation with the National Council to make rules and regulations governing the organisation and conduct of elections of a Presidential Candidate.
In the case of Vice Presidential Candidate, the NEC and the National Council decided that Article 12 (b) of the party’s Constitution on the selection of Vice Presidential Candidate should be amended to be in consonance with Article 12 (4) (i) of the same Constitution which would require that the party’s Vice Presidential Candidate must be a known and active member of at least five years among others.
Apart from that, it was also decided that the Vice Presidential Candidate should be selected by the Presidential Candidate in consultation with the National Council at least 12 months before the general elections when the party is not in power or the sitting President is not the Candidate.
They however made provisions for the National Council to dispense with the requirement under special circumstances.
Meanwhile, there are strong indications that those who would attend Saturday, August 22, 2009, Emergency delegates’ conference would vote in favour of the adoption of the proposed amendments of the party’s Constitution to represent the concern the concerns of the rank and file of the party.