On February 22, 2023, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) began accepting nominations for the positions of president and Member of Parliament for its upcoming primaries.
Aspiring lawmakers paid GH¢5,000 for their forms whiles an amount of GH¢ 30,000 was required for those running for president.
The parliamentary primaries for the NDC have been scheduled to take place on May 13, 2023, and many new candidates are gearing up to run for seats in the various constituencies to enter parliament in 2025 on the party's ticket.
Several individuals from all spheres of national life, including doctors, engineers, lecturers, lawyers, and businessmen, have expressed interest in running for the upcoming parliamentary primaries.
GhanaWeb profiles three academicians seeking to leave the lecture halls for parliament on the ticket of NDC
1. Dr Paul Kwame Butakor (Senior Lecturer University of Ghana (UG))
A senior lecturer at the department of Teacher Education of the University of Ghana, Dr Paul Kwame Butakor, has picked a nomination form to contest the parliamentary seat for Nsawam-Adoagyiri Constituency.
According to Dr Butakor, his move follows several requests from constituents to help them overcome the challenges they are now experiencing in terms of development under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) reign in the constituency.
He said in an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb, after picking up the nomination forms that he finds it saddening every time he sees residents of the constituency battling for basic social amenities.
According to him, he will leverage his experience at home and abroad to influence policies that will impact the economic fortunes of the constituency, especially in the area of employment, education, health and infrastructure.
“I think this is the time that we have to kick out the Member of Parliament (Annoh-Dompreh), we’ve given him the opportunity for a long but to no avail, my people are struggling and I can’t continue to watch,” he said.
Dr Butakor currently teaches Quantitative Research Methods, Educational Measurement and Assessment, and Statistics at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
The Nsawam-Adoagyiri constituency he is seeking to lead was created out of the Aburi-Nsawam constituency in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The seat is currently occupied by the NPP Frank Annor Dompreh Majority Chief Whip of the current parliament, and he is in his third term. The NDC is poised to take over the seat from the NPP come December 2024.
2. Dr Jacob Paarechuga Anankware (Senior Lecturer University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR)
Dr Jacob Paarechuga Anankware, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) has also picked his nomination forms to contest the NDC primaries in the Navrongo Central Constituency.
Dr Anankware is currently the Head of the Department of Horticulture and Crop Production at UNER.
According to him, he’s ever ready to serve his people in the northern part of the country. In an exclusive interview with GNA, Dr Anankware is quoted to have said that the people of Navrongo only need respect and someone who is down to earth and not someone who will lord his position on them.
“This is the second time I’m contesting and I know the delegates will give me their blessings during the primary to represent them since the current MP has lost touch with the constituents and his re-election spells doom for the party in 2024”, he said.
Dr Anankware is an astute NDC member and had been a TEIN Patron at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) since 2018.
He had also served as the Upper East Regional NDC Election monitoring member for the 2020 election.
3. Dr Joseph Yensu (Lecturer Kumasi Technical University)
Dr Joseph Yensu, an economics lecturer at the Kumasi Technical University has picked forms to contest in the upcoming parliamentary elections of the Aowin Constituency in the Western North region.
He was a Director of the Disney World International Internship Program, USA, for Kumasi Polytechnic students now Kumasi Technical University.
He has held part-time academic positions at the University of Cape Coast (DL) and the University College of Management Studies, Ghana.
He now lectures managerial finance, business finance, managerial economics, corporate finance, financial econometrics, Credit Risk and Management.
In latest developments, the NDC has suspended, with immediate effect, all campaign activities by sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) till the end of the month – March 31, 2023.
In a statement released by the party and signed by its National Secretary – Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, it indicated that following a meeting by the party’s Functional Executive Committee (FEC) on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, the decision was reached.
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