General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu says the gruesome murder of the late Hon. Ekow Quansah Hayford by the unknown assailants has not officially been communicated to the party even though it is public knowledge.
According to him, the moment the party’s leadership receives official notification of his death, it will through the National Executive Committee decide the next Parliamentary Candidate to replace the deceased Member of Parliament for Mfantseman.
Speaking on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show, the NPP Chief Scribe established that NEC remains the only organ in this situation to decide in consultation with the constituency and the region, the next course of action.
“Let me state emphatically that the National Executive Committee is the only organ that has the power to decide whether we are selecting a PC or we are electing a PC or whatever; so, they will take that decision in consultation with the constituency and the region. We will quickly find another candidate once we are officially notified”, he stated.
Relating the incident to the electoral laws, Mr. John Boadu slated that the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has 10 additional days to renominate someone to replace the decease after the Electoral Commission has opened and closed nominations.
“We cannot take any decision about it but if we get an official notification about his death by close of the day, the laws say that if the EC opens nomination and closes it and the candidate that is being sponsored by a party to contest on their ticket has passed on, the political party is given additional 10 days to renominate someone to replace the decease,” he revealed.
He added that the Parliamentary election in the Mfantseman Constituency would have been postponed to take place in 21 days time had the NPP Parliamentary Candidate died some 25 days to the general election.
“If it is 25 days to the election and someone dies, in addition to the 10 days we have as a party to renominate another person, the election will be postponed for 21 days. But in this case, we have almost 50 days to elections and so the election will not be postponed; we have 10 more days to be able to reorganize ourselves and replace the candidate”, he reiterated.
