We're Not Broke - DFP

Alhaji Abdul-Rahman Issaka Democratic Freedom Party’s (DFP) Interim National Chairman has rebuffed media speculation that the party is broke and cannot organize a successful congress.

“They first said we have stolen the NDC’s money to organize our congress, and now they are saying the DFP is broke; how do you reconcile those statements? I think we better leave them to their conscience.

After all, which political party in Ghana is rich today?” He said the party had now secured a venue in Accra for its National Delegates Congress to elect a presidential candidate for the December 2008 presidential elections. The party originally announced that the congress to elect its presidential candidate would be held in the middle of March, 2008 but had to postpone it, citing difficulties in securing a venue.

Alhaji Abdulrahman Issaka was speaking to the Accra Daily Mail (ADM) newspaper in an interview. He said a sub-committee under the Congress Planning Committee has got a place in Accra suitable for the event and the party’s Functional Executive Committee is meeting this Wednesday to approve the venue before it goes ahead to announce the congress date. Alhaji Abdulrahman Issaka, told the ADM that the party had wanted to use the University of Ghana, Legon, but later had to look for an alternative after it received notice from the authorities that school would be in session during the proposed congress date. He said checks at other tertiary institutions capable of hosting such big events revealed they would also be occupied during the time the party was considering for the congress.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) was the first political party to elect a presidential candidate to contest the 2008 presidential elections. The party went to congress in December 2006, where it elected Prof. Mills as the party’s presidential candidate for the third time. The Peoples National Convention (PNC) elected Dr. Edward Mahama for the fourth time on December 2, 2007. The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) was the fourth political party to elect a presidential candidate. The congress, held on December 22 to 23, 2007, which elected Nana Akuffo Addo as presidential candidate, came three days after the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) elected Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom as the party’s presidential candidate at a Congress held in Kumasi.

It is now left to be seen who the DFP would come up with since so far there are no known names running for president on the party’s ticket and for that matter any front runner(s). The DFP, like the Reform Party is made up of a leadership that broke away from the NDC. Former NDC stalwart, Dr. Yao Obed Asamoah the brain behind DFP is not running as president however speculation had been rife that the party may throw its weight behind an NPP presidential candidate but field its own parliamentary candidates. Alhaji Issaka said four names are likely to come up when DFP opens nominations but he refused to mention them. He explained that “the candidates would announce themselves after filing their nominations”.