NDP To Field NDC Members For Parliament

The threat posed by the National Democratic Party (NDP) to the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has taken a concrete form as the new party readies parliamentary candidates for constituencies where the NDC could be vulnerable. The Finder sources say that party executives are not aiming to wrest power from the ruling NDC in 2012, but they appear bent on bringing the party�s tenure in office to an end. The NDP so far appears to have succeeded in attracting NDC members dissatisfied with the party. Last weekend�s report of NDC supporters� unhappiness with the disqualification of their aspirants for parliamentary primaries in Tamale is a cause for concern. Already out in the public is the possible filing of a former aspirant for Yilo Krobo, Daniel Gerald Tettey-Akomey; a former NDC aspirant who contested as an independent candidate for Chiana-Paga in 2008, Rudolf Amenga-Etego; and Mr Mohammed Frimpong, an NDC parliamentary aspirant for the Weija Constituency. Daniel Gerald Tettey-Akomey contested the NDC primaries in the Yilo Krobo Constituency. He came third with 60 votes as compared to the eventual winner, Kofi Amoatey, a legal practitioner, who polled 155. Mr Mohammed Frimpong, National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary aspirant for the Weija Constituency, has openly declared his support for the NDP, stating that it is the true social democratic party. Mr Rudolf Amenga-Etego, a legal practitioner and civil society activist, is said by election analysts to have split the NDC vote in Chiana-Paga by going independent and thereby denying Mr Abuga Pele, the head of the National Youth Employment Programme, that seat. A more potential powerful candidate for the NDP is Mr Teye Nyaunu, the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Lower Manya, who lost in the NDC primaries in his constituency, but is said to be very popular in the constituency. Mr Teye Nyaunu has been consistent and insistent that government officials have been focused of amassing ill-gotten wealth instead of serving the people. He has so far not aligned openly with the NDP, but had before the formation of the NDP left open the possibility of going independent. Rawlings spokesperson, Mr Kofi Adams' name had been mentioned as one of the potential NDP candidates, but he said over the weekend on Citi FM that he was not going to contest this year�s elections. The NDP secured their provisional certificate from the Electoral Commission last week, but cannot campaign till it secures the final certificate in some three weeks� time. The party is said to have the backing of, especially, former First Lady Mrs Agyeman Rawlings and her husband, whose loyalists have been the public faces of the party. However, the couple, although estranged from the NDC, has so far avoided open association with the party.