Day: October 19, 2022

Accra, Oct. 19, GNA – Justice Samuel Kwame Adibu Asiedu, a Supreme Court Justice nominee, has urged the country to invest in infrastructure to expand law education.

He said massive investments into law education would open up the space for the production of quality professional lawyers.

“If it is decentralisation, then is already in place, we have Makola School of law and one in Kumasi and Madina as well.

“The Kumasi Makola that I referred to, doesn’t have a campus of its own, so we need investment in infrastructure if we want to make headway,” Justice Adibu Asiedu said this on Wednesday when he took his turn before Parliament’s Appointment Committee at the ongoing vetting of Supreme Court nominees.

He also advised aspiring law students not to give up on their first attempt when writing the entrance exams into the Ghana Law School.

He said” Mr Chairman, I will not ask any young man to change the profession he aspires to attain. My brother wrote the law school entrance exams, the first time he failed, he wanted to stop and I told him that he should write it as many times as will get him to pass.”

“He passed on the third count…So the advice I will give to the young ones is that they should learn and learn, write and continue to write till they pass the exams so that they can enter the Law School,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo in July nominated four persons: three justices of the Court of Appeal and a Justice of the High Court to fill up expected vacancies at the apex court.

The nominees from the Court of Appeal are; Justice Barbara Frances Ackah-Yensu, Justice George Kingsley Koomson and Justice Samuel Kwame Adibu Asiedu.

Justice Ernest Yao Gaewu is the only nominee from the High Court.

The Appointments Committee of Parliament on Tuesday began the vetting of four Supreme Court justice nominees.

So far, Justice Barbara Frances Ackah-Yensu, Justice George Kingsley Koomson and Justice Samuel Kwame Adibu Asiedu have all been vetted.

Their appointments are now subject to subsequent approval or rejection by Parliament.

Source: Ghana News Agency

It is a “very dangerous posture” for anyone to assume that election 2024 will be a “walk over” for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, Director of Elections, NDC, has said.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Ankrah, a General Secretary hopeful of the NDC, rejected suggestions that the current economic circumstances would inure to the benefit of the NDC in the next general elections.

“It is dangerous for anybody to think that it is going to be a walk over…I am very clear in my mind about the kind of challenge we are going to face come 2024. It is not going to be easy.

“I have dealt with the NPP very closely. I dealt with them in 2008, 2012, and 2020. So for anybody to just casually assume that 2024 is just going to be a walk over, the person does not understand the electoral dynamics of the kind of opponent we are dealing with,” he said.

Mr Ankrah, a Former Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, said the Party must prepare early for election 2024.

He said the NDC must also be “vigilant, aggressive and strong,” indicating that the next election “is not negotiable.”

“Some of the preparations in 2020 came a little late so it is always important to start preparations early for all the processes – choice of running mates, recruiting and training of agents, testing systems and all that.” Mr Ankrah said.

The NDC will hold its constituency elections between October 22 and 23, 2022, while the regional elections would be held between November 12 and 13, 2022.

The National Congress will be held on December 17, 2022.

About 7,900 executives are expected to be elected in a total of 876 areas at the constituency, regional, and national elections scheduled for the next three months.

Mr Ankrah, who declared his intention to run for the General Secretary position last month, is seeking to replace Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, who had occupied the position since 2005.

With Mr Nketia officially announcing his intention to contest as National Chairman, some political commentators have described the General Secretary race as an open contest.

Mr Ankrah, who was the Campaign Coordinator for former President John Dramani Mahama in 2012, said he had contributed to the successes of the NDC over the years having served the Party in various leadership positions for about two decades.

He said he had built strong relationship with the Party base, the youth, religious community, traditional authority, and all relevant stakeholders; making him qualified to assist the NDC to win the next presidential election.

“One of my greatest strength is the ability to work with people from various and diverse background. I know how to bring people around.” Mr Ankrah said.

Source: Ghana Web

The National Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Stephen Ntim has fulfilled his promise of ensuring the party gets a new security-enhanced membership card.

History was made on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, when he chaired the occasion to launch and roll out new membership cards of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the Prempeh Assembly Hall in Kumasi.

The President of Ghana, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo after graciously launching the new membership card – which has unique security features became the first party member to acquire what Mr Ntim calls the new NPP “Intelligence Card” in a record time.

ln his remarks, the National Chairman charged members of the party to visit their respective polling stations and register to acquire full membership status when registration begins.

This exercise, Mr Ntim noted has been decentralized for smooth participation, and also provides accurate data at the local level.

Consequently, he implored all members and sympathizers of the party to be ambassadors or crusaders of this important initiative by spreading the news and getting as many party members as possible to voluntarily register.

“It is also imperative that all forms of fraudulent approaches in the issuance of these cards are eschewed to safeguard its integrity and credibility,” Mr Ntim stressed.

He commended former national executives, his current colleague national officers, and the hardworking IT staff of the party for this exercise.

New membership card

The new membership card has enhanced security features including a hologram and QR Code.

For the first time, when the card is scanned, every position the holder has held or is holding in the party will pop up.

The new biometric or electronic membership card is for easy identification, data keeping, and proper management as all members would automatically be hooked onto a centralised computer system for easy identification.

The official roll-out will enable all registered members to be in the same folder which will enhance the compilation of party data and prevent scuffles that usually characterize the compilation of party albums for primaries.

NPP members will have to go to their various polling stations to register for the new card.

Source: Ghana Web

The Center for Political Research and Advocacy (CePRA) in a quasi-opinion polls is predicting a win for Mr. William Kwame Atamudzi, with some weeks to the election of executives for the leadership of the Eastern Region of the National Democratic Congress.

According to Cepra, 50% of respondents said, the current Eastern Regional First Vice chairman, William Kwame Atamudzi is their preferred Regional Chairman for the NDC, a situation which suggests a popular endorsement of Mr. William Kwame Atamudzi for the regional Chairmanship race.

A statement issued and signed by U.L Mustapha, a Research Analyst at CePRA, emphasized that the poll, which was conducted in June, July, August and September 2022, placed him ahead of the four other Candidates eyeing the chairmanship slot.

“Out of the 700 participants in the poll, 622 of the respondents were constituency executives, 78 were former government appointees, Former MMDCEs and founding fathers of the party across 25 out of the 33 constituencies in the Eastern Region”, CePRA statement said.

50%, representing 350 of the respondents said, the current regional vice chairman is their choice for the regional Chairmanship position.

Other respondents said. Mr William Kwame Atamudzi has the requisite acumen to lead the region better than the other aspirants”, the statement said.

Many among the reasons given were that, the man is very hardworking, a grassroot person, very visible and accessible, very resourceful, understands the party structures, very experienced and appeals to all factions of the party.

The statement also disclosed that the incumbent regional chairman Mr. John Owusu Amankrah (Jowak) placed second with 19% representing 133 of the 700 respondents.

CePRA however believes Jowak’s second position is still shaky and likely to dwindle in the elections due to his old age and immobility challenges, a condition Party Footsoldiers have described as a recipe for disaster.

The remaining respondents were split between Kevor Mark-Oliver, former Eastern Regional Secretary, Bismark Tawiah Boateng, former Regional chairman and Basil Ahiable, one time regional chairman aspirant.

Mark Oliver Kevor pulled 77 votes, representing 11% of the respondents while Bismarck Tawiah Boateng pulled 70 votes, representing 10% of the participants with Basil Ahiable also pulling 70 votes representing 10% of the respondents.

It would be recalled that CePRA , in the run up to the GJA elections conducted a similar polls and predicted a win for Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, the current GJA President which came to fruition.

If CePRA’s prediction in the GJA elections is something to go by then, its latest polls that William Kwame Atamudzi will win the NDC Eastern regional Chairmanship race is undisputable.

Source: Ghana Web

All 49 aspirants contesting the Eastern regional executive positions in the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have been vetted and cleared to contest.

Balloting was immediately held for their positions on the ballot papers.

The petition for the disqualification of one aspirant was dismissed for failure by the petitioner to provide solid evidence to back his claims.

The 2020 Election Campaign Manager for the NDC and also a former flagbearer aspirant, Prof. Joshua Alabi who chaired the vetting said the process was smooth and successful.

He was confident the NDC is poised to win the 2024 general elections.

Prof. Joshua Alabi, however, urged all aspirants with issues to use internal laid-down procedures to address same.

Chairman of the Election Committee Alhaji Sumaila Mahama said the committee has slated the 22nd and 23rd of October for the constituency elections in the region with exception of some constituencies that have been put on hold for final determination of some petitions.

He said the Regional elections will follow after the constituency elections are conducted.

Source: Ghana Web