The three committees are the Vetting, Appeals and Electoral committees.

The flag bearer election, which is scheduled to take place in 275 polling stations across the country, will see some 270,000 delegates casting their votes to elect a flag bearer out of seven aspirants.

At the end of the election, collation will be done and the results announced at the party’s headquarters in Accra by the General Secretary of the party, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, who is the Returning Officer for the election.

The seven aspirants are former President John Dramani Mahama, Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Mr Alban Bagbin, Mr Sylvester Mensah, Professor Joshua Alabi, Mr Augustus Tanoh and Mr Nurudeen Iddrisu.

Members of the committees

The seven-member Vetting Committee is chaired by a former Minister of Interior under former President Rawlings and former Member of Parliament (MP) for the Odododiodio Constituency, Nii Okaija Adamafio, with others being the Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Haruna Iddrisu; the Deputy Minority Leader, Mr James Klutse Avedzi; a lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, Professor Stephen Kende; a former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Professor Kwaku Danso Boafo, Mr Oscar Amenyedoho and Madam Nancy Amartefio.

The five-member Appeals Committee which is headed by former Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, has other members as former Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr Cletus Avoka; a former MP for Keta, Mr Dan Abodakpi; a former National Organiser of the NDC, Mr Yaw Boateng Gyan and a former Member of the Ghana Police Council (GPC), Madam Alice Otuteye.

The chairman of the seven-member Electoral Committee is the Director of International Relations of the NDC and former MP for the Ho Central Constituency, Mr Kofi Attor, with other members being the acting Director of Elections of the party, Mr Bede A. Ziedeng; a former Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Koku Anyidoho; the Minority Chief Whip in Parliament, Mr Muntaka Mubarak; a member of the legal team of the NDC, Mr Abraham Amaliba; a former Deputy Women’s Organiser of the NDC, Dr Catherine Deynu, and the Executive Director of Development Challenge, a research policy think tank, Alhaji Haruna Rashid.

Also, the directors of elections for the various regions of the country, apart from the Greater Accra and Northern regions, have also been selected.

Court action

Addressing a press conference prior to the inauguration of the committees, the Deputy General Secretary in charge of operations of the NDC, Mr Peter Boamah Otokonor, recounted that the committees should have been inaugurated earlier but for an ex-parte court action brought by some aggrieved members of the party challenging the guidelines for the election of a flag bearer.

He said the matter was discussed with the party’s legal team who had advised that since the injunction was to last for a period of 10 days, it was proper for the time to elapse before continuing with the processes towards the election of a flag bearer.

Mr Otokonor said the party, after the 10 days had elapsed, had decided to resume the process while awaiting the hearing of the ex-parte application on January 14, 2019.

Mandate of committees

Throwing light on the mandate of the committees, he said the Vetting Committee was supposed to conduct the vetting of the seven aspirants to determine their eligibility or otherwise to contest the election.

With the vetting done, he said, if any aspirant felt aggrieved by the decision of the committee, they would have the opportunity to appeal to the Appeals Committee which would look into the issues brought by aggrieved parties and determine a way forward.

The Electoral Committee, he said, would be responsible for the planning and conduct of the entire electoral process as well as liaise with the Electoral Commission (EC).

Ensuring transparency

In the selection process for the members of the various committees, he said, extensive consultations were done with all the aspirants as a means of providing a level-playing field for all such that at the end of the day, the true will of the electorate of the party would prevail.