John Mahama, Alabi, others to file nominations today

Former President John Mahama will later today [Monday], file his nomination forms at the headquarters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

This is ahead of the party’s primaries on Saturday, January 26, 2019.

A statement from the former president’s office announced that Mr. Mahama will submit his forms at midday.

This will be followed by an address by Mr. Mahama at Pavillion A of the Trade Fair Centre at La in Accra at 1:30pm.

Mr. Mahama recently asked Ghanaians back him in his bid to become first former President to be reelected as Head of State in a meeting with NDC legislators on Tuesday.

“My brothers and sisters, I believe we can make history, and that is the history of the re-election of a person who was president before. It is a rare phenomenon.”

Mr. Mahama is already looking beyond the NDC presidential primaries in January 2019 as he says his party’s prospects “are very bright” ahead of the next general elections.

The deadline for the filing of nominations for the presidential aspirants was extended to December 18, 2018 after some pressure from the contestants.

The vetting of the aspirants will be on the 21st and 22nd of December, 2018 with balloting to follow immediately after.

Any appeals from the aspirants will be permitted between the 22nd and 24th of December, 2018.

Another aspirant, Prof. Joshua Alabi is also expected to submit his nomination forms today.

In a Facebook post over the weekend, the former Vice Chancellor of University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) indicated that he will submit the forms on Monday along with the filing fees.

“My mission is simple, to deliver victory2020 for the NDC, so as to revolutionise agriculture, create businesses in the Agric sector and unleash unprecedented job opportunities for our teeming unemployed youth,” he wrote.

“I am determined to build a just society that offers opportunity to every Ghanaian, irrespective of where you were born, how you were born, who you were born to and the circumstances of your upbringing,” he added.

Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin and former boss of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Sylvester Mensah are also expected to file their nomination today.

All the four candidates will be expected to pay the GHS 300,000 as filing fee, an amount some of them have petitioned the council elders of the party to seek its further reduction after an earlier reduction from GHS 400,000 to GHS 300,000.

The NDC will hold its presidential primaries on January 26, after an intervention from the Council of Elders pushed it from January 19, 2019.