Former President Kufour Abstains from NPP’s Special Voting to Preserve his Status as an Elder of the Party

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has abstained himself from Sunday’s voting to prune the number of the candidates seeking to lead the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential ticket.

According to Mr. Frank Agyekum, the former president will no longer be voting in internal party elections.

This is to preserve his status as an elder of the party, his Spokesperson, Frank Agyekum has revealed.
“He is part of the process but he is not voting because he sees himself as an elder statesman on both national and party affairs. The process and the tensions in the NPP as it is today, it is best if he doesn't show his support for one candidate or the other.”

“He has given his express condition that he supports whoever emerges as the winner from today’s process as well as in October so he wants to put that into practice. And that’s why he is not voting, but he thinks it is a good process the party itself has arranged for this mechanism to vet its candidates so we have a sizable number going into the primaries in October.
 
And he believes that if we go by the regulations of the party and there are no short-cuts and nobody tries to circumvent the process, we will have a very good process,” he added.

He denied that Mr. Kufour made the decision because he no longer cares about the NPP saying “democracy has to be nurtured, it doesn’t just happen.
 
And as much as he believes in democracy, he feels it will be best for the party if he stays out of the fray and let the people choose their leaders and then he can support them. He has told all of the candidates that he is not going to support any of them but he will support the winner. And that’s why he is not voting.”

When asked how the former president felt about claims that he was supporting one of the aspirants in the election, Mr Agyekum said that the people who made the claims “must be ashamed of what they said about him.”

“He has given his word and he has kept it. Nothing at all is gained by people speculating wrongly and casting  the wrong allegations when they have no basis. The former president has thought through it and that is why he is staying out of the fray and allow the process to gel. Once a winner emerges, he will offer his support to him and then perhaps nobody can come and accuse him wrongly the way they did.”

He added that Mr. Kufuor would be unable to monitor the process in the country as he was “on his way now to Addis Ababa to attend a meeting by an agricultural research organisation that had asked him to be present.”

Delegates of the NPP  have been  voting at a Super Delegates Congress to reduce the number of candidates from seven to five.

As a member of the National Council of elders of the party, Mr. Kufour was expected to cast his vote at the party’s headquarters today.

Meanwhile, voting in Wa the region capital of Upper West has taken off smoothly and peacefully. 

Radio Ghana’s correspondent Sualah Abdul-wahab reports that all the 33 delegates including two transfers are expected to cast their votes in the exercise. 

As at 10:30 this morning 32 out of the 33 delegates had voted. As early as 7:30am, the EC officials led by its Regional Director Serebour Quaicoe arrived at GNAT Hall to conduct the exercise. 

Some of the aspirants have their agents at the scene of the voting while others do not have.  Some of the delegates who have cast their votes are standing outside the hall anxiously waiting for the results which will be ready at three O'clock. 

There is also adequate security at the venue of the exercise. Before the start of the exercise the Regional Director of EC Serebuor Quaicoe cautioned the delegates  not to show openly which aspirants they will vote for or take pictures of thumb printed ballot papers in the booth. He explained that the ballot will not be counted even if voting is ended until 3:00pm.

GBC