IPP candidate picks fashion designer as running mate

The presidential candidate of the Independent People’s Party (IPP), Mr. Kofi Akpaloo has settled on a fashion designer as his running mate for the 2016 general elections.

Margaret Obrian Safo is 56 years old and married, he told journalists immediately he submitted his nomination forms at the Electoral Commission’s office in Accra Thursday morning. Asked what informed his choice of the running mate, Mr. Akpaloo simply said she is “superb”.

“Her contribution to discussions merited her the running mate,” Mr. Akpaloo who is contesting the presidential election for the first time said of his potential vice president.

Mr. Akpaloo who is an accountant by profession is confident his choice of running mate is best to win him this year’s presidential election. The presidential candidate was however unable to tell the number of persons contesting as parliamentary candidates on the ticket of the IPP. Whilst some political parties filed their candidates nomination forms together with their presidential candidates, the IPP decided to file the parliamentary forms at the constituency level, he said.

According to him, his inability to give the exact number is as result of complaints from his people that the filing fees of GH¢10,000 is too expensive.“Some of them were scared about the amount involved,’ he said. He is therefore unsure how many would be able to meet the requirement by end of submission tomorrow, September 30, 2016.

Mr. Akpaloo himself has joined a injunction suit against the filing fees for the presidential candidates by the EC. He said the GH¢50,000 being charged by the EC is illegal. Meanwhile, the EC has suspended the fees due to the injunction first filed by the Progressive People’s Party on Wednesday. Kofi Akaploo also did not declare his assets as requested by the EC because he said it is illegal. He said he is not a public officer and would only do so when he becomes the president of Ghana.