THE PARROTS

A joint delegation from the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republicans (IR) have held discussions with former President John Agyekum Kufuor on how they  could reduce the political tension in the run-up to the December  7 elections. Briefing newsmen later,  a former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Mr Johnnie Carson, said the group was concerned with the current tension that had characterised the body politic of the country. He  said Ghana was seen as a very powerful democratic country in Africa and the world at large, and as such had earned  a positive image among the comity of nations. He said it was this positive indicators which informed the delegation to visit the country for a pre-election assessment and chart a way forward with stakeholders, especially representatives of political parties, opinion leaders, civil society organisations and the Electoral Commission (EC). Involve everyone  He...

The National Organiser of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kofi Adams, has revealed that the party will release its manifesto a month after the campaign launch which is scheduled for Sunday, August 14. “…We will roll out our manifesto in less than a month after the launch,” stated Mr. Adams, who is also the NDC’s campaign coordinator in the forthcoming elections. Speaking in an interview, Adams added that the policy document is ready and being printed. He said another event will be fixed “…just as we did in 2004, 2008 and 2012 to launch our manifesto”. The opposition New Patriotic Party has said it is delaying its manifesto launch because it fears the NDC plagiarizing it. The delay according to its Director of Elections, Peter Mac Manu was informed by what occurred in 2008 when the party believes its manifesto was modified and adopted by the NDC. “We cannot sit down and repeat that same [mistake we did in the 2008] thing in 2016” he said. The party...

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei has stated that she was surprised at the 56,000 NHIS registrants found on the voters’ register because she thought the number would have been more. “I was surprised at the figure because I was expecting more. I was expecting more because of all the rhetoric that had happened around it,” Mrs. Osei said in an interview on Good Evening Ghana on Metro TV on Thursday. The Supreme Court in July this year ordered the EC to delete names of persons who registered with the national insurance card from the voters’ register. The order was made in a case in which former National Youth Organiser of the People’s National Convention, Abu Ramadan challenged the credibility of the voters’ register. A ten-day period was provided for NHIS registrants to re-register which was extended by seven days after over 30,000 people failed to turn up to re-register. However, Mrs. Osei told host Paul Adom Otchere that its possible names ...