5 major highlights of NPP’s Super Delegates Conference

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For a lot of election watchers and from the general outcomes of the Saturday, August 26, 2023, Super Delegates Conference of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), it was quite successful, but like most electioneering processes in the country, it was not without some major fallouts.

The conference, which was aimed at getting the NPP to shortlist 5 candidates out of the initial 10 candidates who wanted to vie for the position of flagbearer, ended with only a clear top 4.

The fifth position is now left in the balance, with a possibility of runoff to take place on Saturday, September 2, 2023, between Boakye Agyarko, a former Minister of Energy; and Francis Addai-Nimoh, a former Member of Parliament for Asante Mampong, after the two tied in terms of vote counts.

However, if either of the two men concede, there would not be the need for the September 2 elections, Prof Aaron Mike Oquaye, the Chairman of the NPP Vetting Committee said.

But what were some of the major highlights of the contest? Here are a few of them put together by GhanaWeb:

I swear to God, I will give you a showdown – Kennedy Agyapong threatens Bawumia, Akufo-Addo:

The Member of Parliament for Assin Central and the candidate who emerged second in the contest, Kennedy Agyapong, did not disappoint when he became the first big name to make a massive headline on Saturday, August 26.

In what could be described as the teaser of the main show, or a sneak peek into the future of the NPP, the irate Kennedy Agyapong was captured in the full glare of the public, sending missiles to the Jubilee House, with President Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia being the primary targets.

The outraged Kennedy Agyapong was captured on video protesting the alleged mishandling of what he believed was his agent at the University of Cape Coast voting centre.

Kennedy Agyapong was said to have said that he believes that associates of the Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, carried out the actions, hence his displeasure.

“President Akufo-Addo, I swear God, I will give you a showdown. Vice president, I will give you a showdown. You’ve chased away my agent for him to hide in a room, we shall see. You will hear what will happen. I swear God, I will challenge President Akufo-Addo anytime.”

Alan agent in North East Region beaten up:

The spokesperson for the camp of Alan Kyerematen, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, was the first to indicate that one of their polling agents in the North East Region had been beaten and had been hospitalised.

According to him, the agent was attacked by supporters of the vice president and presidential aspirant, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. This was after he (the agent) contested the showing of ballot sheets by voters.

Buaben Asamoa claimed that the incident had been reported to the police and the agent has been rushed to the hospital for treatment.

“As we speak, incidents in the North East region have made us very disturbed, our agent in the northeast has been beaten. He is in the hospital now because he contested the showing of ballots, which is completely illegal according to the rules. They are voting and showing the ballots in the north-east, when our agent protested, he was beaten up.”

“We the Alan Kyerematen campaign is rejecting the entire results in the northeast. We are telling the party headquarters, the elections committee, the vice-president’s team, we are telling his Excellency the President to put his foot down. Anything to do with adding and including the North East election results means the elections are a sham!” he said.

Bawumia in landslide victory:

At the close of polls on the day, Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, emerged as the leading contender of the New Patriotic Party Super Delegates Conference.

Per the results, Dr Bawumia garnered 629 votes, representing 68.15 percent of the total votes cast.

Following right behind him was the Assin Central lawmaker, Kennedy Agyapong, who polled 132 votes representing 14.30 percent, while Alan Kyerematen polled 95 votes, representing 10.29 percent in the elections.

Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto secured the fourth spot for the party’s presidential primaries with 36 votes representing 3.90%.

Kofi Apraku scores zero votes:

From the final results of the elections across the country, Kofi Konadu Apraku, a former Minister of Trade and Industry and Member of Parliament for Offinso North, had no votes.

He scored zero votes from the total of 958 votes cast.

Hopeson Adorye allegations that people were paid US$5,000, GH¢100K to vote for Bawumia:

A member of the Alan Kyerematen flagbearership campaign, Hopeson Adorye, alleged that money played a major part in the just-ended Super Delegates Conference of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Hopeson Adorye made a number of explosive revelations at the NPP headquarters on August 26 after the votes had been counted and declared. The headquarters was the 17th voting center along with 16 regional centers.

Adorye claimed that huge sums of monies in foreign and local currencies exchanged hands as part of inducement for votes in favour of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.

“In this election, money played a role, money, money. Money played a role, we are unafraid in making these claims. You could give someone US$5,000, what are you talking about?

“We also shared money,” he admitted when pressed by journalists “but whose was bigger? How can you give one person 100,000 cedis to go and vote?” he alleged further.

When challenged further, he posed: “What are you talking about? Go to Ashanti Region and ask.”

He has since been summoned to appear before the party’s disciplinary committee over some of the comments he made. Four others, including flagbearer hopeful, Kennedy Agyapong, are also to appear before the committee according to a statement signed by General Secretary Justin Kodua Frimpong.

Boakye Agyarko and Francis Addai-Nimoh tied in 5th position with 9 votes each representing 0.98%.

Other candidates who contested in the elections was Joe Ghartey with 4 votes, Kwadwo Poku with 3 votes, Kwabena Agyepong with 5 votes while Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku failed to secure a single vote.

Outcome of August 26 primary:

At the end of the August 26 super delegates conference of the NPP, official results showed a big victory for Vice President Dr Bawumia, over nine other contenders, ahead of the main primary in November.

He polled 629 votes, coming first, Kennedy Agyapong garnered 132, placing second, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen polled 95 of the votes, placing third, and Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto had 36 votes, placing fourth.

Mr Boakye Agyarko and Francis Addai Nimoh had nine votes each, thus tying at the fifth position.

The rest were Kwabena Agyei Agyepong; Six, Joe Ghartey, Four, Kwadwo Poku, three, and Kofi Konadu Apraku zero.

There were a total of 923 valid votes cast.

Source: Ghanaweb