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Mr. Boakye Agyarko, a flagbearer candidate for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), called the idea of the super delegates election in its current shape a “bloody waste of time.”
Although it is commendable that the super delegates election provision’s framers intended for the process to be pruned and made less chaotic, he claimed that putting the provision into practice is a complete waste of time because a better statistical method could be used to achieve the same result immediately.
Boakye Agyarko made this statement to the media on Saturday, August 26, 2023 in Koforidua after casting his ballot in the election for the super delegates.
“This process is not to select a winner. I was one of the original drafters of this provision out of the Heyman committee. It was never intended to produce a winner. It was intended to select five people to represent the party going forward so therefore if after today let say that one person gets hundred percent, there will be a rerun to add four more and if the second rerun only produces another 100% there will be a third rerun. We will rerun until we get five. Why is that?
“The system is intended to produce five people, not to announce a winner,” he continued. Therefore, the party will hold another election the following week to choose two to join the three if three people receive positive votes today and the others receive zero votes. It seems like a bloody waste of time to me. However, this is where we are right now. There is a more statistical approach to accomplish it to ensure that it is done once and for all.
He claimed that the voting of super delegates was simply intended to reduce the number of delegates so that the other 208,000 could make decision.
Therefore, he asserted, it is improper to suggest that the candidate who receives the most votes in the contest for superdelegates automatically become the flagbearer.
“Since it is not to produce a winner, the intention out of the Heyman committee which I was a member was not that the special delegates will select a candidate for the party. That mandate is given to the voters who will number 208000 plus. So you cannot have 956 people select for that 200,000 it is illegitimate. The intention of the Heyman committee in the drafting of the provision is that the pruning down is to make the process less chaotic but the five people must proceed therefore to the general population for them to select the leader of the party. That is the process. I hear all manner of speculations either out of ignorance or willful distortion to misinform”.
Boakye Agyarko said that even the decentralized super delegate election was a misreading of the clause, which expressly stipulates that “a venue” rather than “venues” must be chosen for the exercise.
Boakye Agyarko and Francis Addai-Nimoh both received nine (9) votes in last Saturday’s super delegates meeting, and the NPP has announced that a run-off will be held on Saturday, September 2, to determine their fates if no one withdraws by Tuesday.
Boakye Agyarko and Addai Nimo’s tie prevented the party from getting the fifth candidate, leading to the planned runoff between the two. The Special Delegates Conference was scheduled to narrow down five of the ten contenders for the final on November 4, 2023.
Dr. Bawumia has received an overwhelming majority of support, according to our preliminary findings from all 16 regions of Ghana, leaving Kennedy Agyapong and Alan Kyerematen well behind.
Dr. Bawumia has received an impressive 629 votes as of the most recent results, demonstrating his vast reach and support within the party. His nearest rivals Kennedy Agyapong and Alan Kyerematen, who have received 132 and 95 votes, respectively, and him are now in a significant lead in the contest.
The breakdown of the regional results reveals a stunning outpouring of support for Dr. Bawumia, who is declared the winner in each of the 16 areas. Notably, Dr. Bawumia has gained support from the Ashanti Region, which has historically been a bastion for the NPP, thus enhancing his standing as a tough candidate.
These preliminary findings represent a significant victory for Dr. Bawumia’s campaign as he continues to gain support in his fight to be chosen as one of the five flagbearer candidates to contest in the party’s primary elections in November of this year.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
