GNP drops presidential candidate

The Ghana National Party (GNP) has shelved its ambition to form the next government.

The party has therefore dropped its presidential candidate, Mr. Ofori Ampofo, from the presidential race in the run-up to the December 2008 general elections.

Mr. Ampofo has now descended from the executive to the legislative level and would be contesting the Kade Constituency parliamentary seat in the Eastern Region on GNP's ticket. The seat is currently occupied by Mr. Kwabena Ofosu Asamoah of the New Patriotic Party.

When contacted party officials, they refrained from giving details on why, all of a sudden, the party has lost interest in the presidential bid and instead concentrating on winning parliamentary seats.

GNP was issued with a final certificate by the Electoral Commission on February 20, 2007.

It entered into Ghana's political terrain to utilise the country's natural resources, which it claimed, "Our previous and current leadership have demonstrated themselves as poor in management skills and sense of direction. This is where the Ghana National Party comes into play."

The National Organizer of GNP, George Wilson, told Joy News the party took a collective decision to withdraw their candidate from the presidential race.

"We want to focus on the parliamentary seats; lack of funds does not come in at all. Although we admit that money plays a lot of roles in a political campaigning, but if it were to be money alone, the GNP has no problem. The reasons are personal and we will like to keep it like that.

He announced that 18 persons have been cleared to contest the parliamentary elections on the party's ticket.