3 Aspirants Disqualified From NDC’s Parliamentary Race

A total of 60 aspirants including two women have been vetted to contest in the upcoming National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary primaries in the Northern Region. However, three aspirants including one Professor Bawah Abdul Fatawu who filed to contest in the Tamale South, and two other women have been disqualified by the vetting committee.

Initially, three incumbent Members of Parliament were going unopposed because no one filed to contest them at the close of nomination. Following the disqualification of the aspirant for the Tamale South constituency, the incumbent, Haruna Iddrisu will go unopposed, bringing the number of incumbents going unopposed to four.

The incumbers going unopposed included Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini of Tamale North, Murtala Mohammed of the Tamale Central, and Daniel Nsala for Kpandai. This means 53 candidates will be battling for some 14 seats in the upcoming primaries in the Northern Region.

The Chairman of the five-member vetting committee Godwin Ako Gunn, explains the reasons for the disqualification. The three disqualified people couldn’t meet the criteria to contest and without mentioning names, it varies from person to person. Basically, out of the three, I’ll say none qualify because of the four years requirement to serve the party.

He stated that qualified aspirants can also begin their campaigns. However, incumbent MPs have been asked to put on hold their campaigns due to parliamentary proceedings. Meanwhile, all three disqualified aspirants have appealed the committee’s decision.