The Vetting Committee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has presented its report to the General Secretary of the party, Mr Kwabena Agyepong, for action.
The 12-page report, with a lot of appendages, is titled, �Report of the Vetting Committee of the New Patriotic Party on nominees for the 2016 presidential primary.�
It will be recalled that the nine-member vetting committee of the NPP started sitting on July 23, 2014 to scrutinise the nomination forms of the seven presidential aspirants bidding for the flag-bearer slot.
Members of committee
The chairperson of the committee is Madam Ama Busia, a former member of the Council of State. The committee used Thursday, July 24, and Friday, July 25, to vet the seven aspirants who appeared before it.
The other members of the committee are Madam Christine Churcher, Mr J B Aidoo, Mr Peter Mac Manu, Ambassador Kwabena Mensa Bonsu, Prof. Mike Ocquaye, Dr Rev. Asante Antwi, Mr Kwadjo Mpiani and Mr C. K. Tedem.
Presentation of report
Receiving the report from Madam Busia at a short ceremony at the party�s headquarters yesterday, Mr Kwabena Agyepong, General Secretary of the NPP, thanked the committee members for compiling the report and presenting it ahead of the scheduled time.
He promised the committee that the party executive would look at it and �if everything in the report is okayed,� the flag-bearer aspirants would be written to and informed of their status.
Pressed to disclose the highlights of the report, Mr Agyepong said, �I am just receiving the report and I will need some time to go through it.�
Flag-bearer aspirants
It will be recalled that before nominations closed on July 7, 2014, seven aspirants had submitted their nomination forms at the party�s headquarters to contest the position of the flag bearer of the party.
The aspirants are Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the 2008 and 2012 presidential candidate of the party; Mr Alan Kwadjo Kyerematen, former minister; Mr Francis Addai Nimoh, MP for Mampong; and Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, a former minister. The rest are Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, a former minister; Mr Joe Ghartey, the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament and MP for Essikado-Ketan; and Mr Kofi Osei Ameyaw, MP for Asuogyaman.
Now that the report has been submitted, the fate of the aspirants hangs in a balance, as per the party�s constitution, the number has to be pruned down to the top five.
If an aspirant is disqualified by the vetting committee, he has 48 hours to appeal.
The committee would, however, have no option but to recommend all the seven for the special congress of the party slated for August 31, 2014 if it found out that all the seven were capable presidential materials.
According to Mr Agyapong, it is too early to say the party will be going for a Special Delegates� congress.
�All will depend on the findings of the vetting committee,� he stated, and added: �If no issue came up during the vetting process, which would lead to the disqualification of an aspirant, all seven will be �signed off as the official aspirants for the flagbearership of our party.�
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