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The former Interim National Chairman of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Alhaji Abdul Rahman Issaka, last Saturday lost his bid to become the party’s flag bearer for the December elections and blamed party founder, Dr Obed Yao Asamoah, for his defeat |
Alhaji Issaka lost the race to a relatively unknown 43-year-old communications consultant, Mr Emmanuel Ansah-Antwi, who polled 868 votes against the former chairman’s 201 votes.
But the defeated aspirant told the Daily Graphic that although the process for the election of the flag bearer was free, fair and transparent, he blamed his defeat on Dr Asamoah, who is the chief patron of the party.
“Considering the fact that I have been the acting Chairman of the party till congress time, as well as my popularity in the party, and looking at my opponent, who is relatively unknown to the delegates, it is surprising that he could use one week to become that popular to win the race.
Although the process was free, fair and transparent, the antecedents were not free and fair. I will blame Dr Asamoah for it,” Alhaji Issaka told the Daily Graphic just before the results were declared by a representative of the Electoral Commission (EC).
However, Dr Asamoah dismissed the allegation and said he did not deal with people on the level of rumours.
Explaining further, Alhaji Issaka said during the National Executive Committee meeting on Friday, when the issue of election came up, he relinquished his position to his deputy and left the meeting because he (Alhaji Issaka) was contesting the flag bearer position.
He said after the meeting, he heard rumours that Dr Asamoah had “told the gathering that his preference was Mr Ansah-Antwi because Mr Ansah-Antwi would be able to garner more votes for the DFP than Alhaji Issaka.
“Therefore, the information may have sifted down and gone along the corridors to the hearing of the delegates. I had met all the delegates and they had given me their assurance that they would vote for me. I could even tell from their eye contact that they would vote for me,” he added.
Earlier on, when Alhaji Issaka was given the opportunity to address the delegates before the election, he started by saying that an Accra-based FM station had asked him if he had heard rumours that Dr Asamoah had asked the delegates to vote for Mr Ansah-Antwi.
He said although Dr Asamoah had denied the story, he wanted to tell the two stories for the delegates to make their judgement, a situation which drew an uproar from the delegates.
He also stated that earlier in the day he had gone round to meet the delegates from the Ashanti Region who complained of not having money for breakfast.
“So I gave them ‘koko’ money,” he said, but that was taken with a pinch of salt by some of the delegates and some believe that might have contributed to his poor showing in the contest.
The peaceful and incident-free congress also confirmed the positions of 11 national executive members through acclamation.
They include the Chairman, Mr Kweku Baah; the First Vice-Chairman, Nii Okaidja Adamafio; the Second Vice- Chairperson, Ms Frances Asiam; the General Secretary, Mr Bede Ziedeng, and the Deputy General Secretary, Mr John Amekah.
The rest are the National Organiser, Mr Piesie Antoh; the Deputy National Organiser, Ms Elsie Akemegah-Mensah; the Women’s Organiser, Ms Franklina Asamoah; the Deputy National Women’s Organiser, Hajia Hawawa Sule; the Public Education Officer, Alhaji Hila Bawa, and the National Treasurer, Ms Ruby Aba Folson.
The occasion was also used to adopt the party’s constitution and rectify its recently held regional congresses.
That was because under the party’s constitution submitted to the EC, the party must hold its regional congresses at least two weeks before the national delegates congress.
However, the party held some of its regional congresses three days before the national congress, hence the need to rectify them.
Political parties which honoured the DFP’s invitation with their representatives to grace the congress were the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the People’s National Convention (PNC) and the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP).
After all the ceremonies had been done, EC officials opened the floor for the two main presidential aspirants to convince the delegates why they should vote for them to lead the party in the 2008 general election. Each candidate was given five minutes.
First to mount the podium was Mr Ansah-Antwi, who concentrated on to his prepared speech. He described himself as the youngest of all the presidential aspirants and that he would have a better appeal to the youth.
He promised that he would make ICT and agricultural development and expansion his priority when given the mandate to govern the country.
He said although various governments since independence had done their best, a lot remained to be done to ensure that the country attained an appreciable level of development to reduce poverty to the barest minimum.
Mr Ansah-Antwi promised that resources to fund the party’s electioneering should not be a worry to the members since he had enough contacts both home and abroad to secure such funds.
Along the line, Mr Ansah-Antwi was prompted by the EC officials that his time was up but he pleaded with them to allow him to finish with the speech, which they obliged. After 10 minutes, he brought his campaign message to an end.
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