Buffer Stock CEO is NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Afram Plains South – Nketiah

The General Secretary of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has declared the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Buffer Stock, Eric Osei-Owusu as the party’s parliamentary candidate for the Afram Plains South constituency.

The pronouncement of the Akatamansonians’ Chief Scribe brings to an end the brouhaha surrounding the party’s representation for the area as far as the parliamentary seat is concerned.

On the deadline of submission of nomination forms for parliamentary candidates, two stalwarts from the NDC filed to contest the Afram Plains South seat following the resignation of the incumbent MP, Joseph Appiah Boateng, to contest for a second time.

The two, Mark-Oliver Kevor, the Eastern Regional Secretary of the NDC and Eric Osei-Owusu are all said to have filed their nomination at the same time but the Returning Officer for the area announced the former as the candidate for the Akatamansonians after scrutinizing his forms.

Kevor, according to inside sources, was given the mandate to file on the ticket of the Akatamansonians by the National Chairman of the NDC, Kofi Portuphy.

However, Eric Osei-Owusu who contested the incumbent MP but lost, according to party officials, was also given the mandate to file by Mr. Asiedu Nketiah, popularly known as General Mosquito.

The two candidates have been campaigning simultaneously as the NDC parliamentary candidate for the area.

Party officials in the Afram Plains South have for the past three weeks, been putting pressure on the National Executives of the party to settle matter as soon as possible or risk losing the seat to the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Joseph Appiah Boateng on Thursday, October 13, 2016 gave the EC a 48-hour ultimatum to publicly announce the candidate who filed to contest on the ticket of the NDC. Failure to do so, he added, will see the EC being dragged to court.

But Mr. Nketiah commenting on the issue in an interaction with sit-in host, Kwaku Owusu Agyei, on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.5 FM, Monday, said Eric Osei-Owusu is the candidate the party has sanctioned to represent the Afram Plains South.

“If you go to the records of the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana, the one who has filed in the name of the NDC and who has been given the power to represent the party is Eric Osei-Owusu,” he announced.

Asked whether he is aware that Mr. Portuphy has also sanctioned the candidacy of Mark-Oliver Kevor, he retorted “We don’t have such in the records of the NDC.”

When asked whether he is also aware of the threat by the incumbent MP to campaign against the candidacy of the Eric Osei-Owusu, General Mosquito answered “if he dares to campaign against the NDC and the candidate, it means he has sacked himself from the party.”

He added “All that we have done is within the law. The system that we are running is rule of law and not rule of persons. So that settles the matter.”