“We think the NPP is in a better position this time to give the NDC a good run for their money,” Mr Richard Oduro, a leading member of the Asutifi South NPP, told the Daily Graphic.

“The constituents are yearning for change because they believe the government is capable of addressing their needs, given what has gone on so far under the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led Adminstration,” he stated.

Event

This was after he led teeming activists and supporters of the party to pick a nomination form at Hwidiem in the Ahafo Region, on behalf of one Mr Ali Suraj, a parliamentary aspirant for the Asutifi South NPP Constituency.

Those present at the ceremony included Alhaji Osman Tahiru, a member of the Acherensua NPP Council of Elders, Mr Adamu Abudu, Chief of the Zamrama community at Acherensua, as well as the rank and file of the party.

Mr Oduro said they were in full support of Ali Suraj’s decision to contest since he had the competency and leadership qualities to wrest the seat from the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Alhaji Collins Dauda of the NDC.

The Asutifi South Constituency parliamentary seat had been swinging between the NPP and NDC since the inception of the Fourth Republican Constitution. In 1996, for instance, the NPP got 41.0 per cent of the total ballots cast in the parliamentary elections, while NDC got 58.4 per cent.

In 2000, NDC had 48.8 per cent, while NPP had 49.4 per cent of the total ballots cast, and in 2004, the NPP had 51.7 per cent, while NDC got 47.3 per cent.

In 2008, the NPP won 49.3 per cent of the total ballots cast in the parliamentary elections, and NDC claimed 49.2 per cent.

Then in 2012, NPP claimed 44.5 per cent of the ballots cast in the parliamentary elections, while NDC had 54.8 per cent. In 2016, the NDC won the seat, claiming 56.6 per cent of the votes cast, while NPP had 42.99 per cent.

Parliamentary aspirant

For the Asutifi South NPP, Ali Suraj is the first aspirant to pick his nomination forms.

According to the party’s timetable, submission of the nomination forms closes on August 3, 2019. The commencement date for picking of the forms was July 20.

Ali Suraj, 40, has played instrumental roles in the growth and development of the NPP, especially in New York, USA, and occupied various positions, including the Deputy NPP Organiser for that branch.

He has promised to strengthen the party’s constituency structures to make it more vibrant and also enhance the welfare of members when given the nod in the NPP parliamentary primary.

Additionally, he intends to mobilise massive support from the Zongo communities when he is endorsed by the party delegates in order to catapult the NPP to a landslide victory in 2020.

The parliamentary aspirant also has the ambition to build a strong communications network for the party to better explain the government’s pro-poor socio-economic programmes and projects to the masses to whip up their support.

Decent campaign

Nana Kofi Sarbeng, a member of the Asutifi South NPP Vetting Committee, tasked aspirants in the forthcoming parliamentary primary to ensure a clean campaign devoid of insults and other unhealthy practices.

He lauded supporters of the party for remaining loyal and committed to the party’s cause in spite of losing the parliamentary seat in the 2016 elections.