DFP holds maiden congress

THE Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) is now set to hold its maiden national delegates congress to elect its flag-bearer and national executive officers.
After months of media speculations of a possible postponement of the congress, the party has finally set April 4, 2008 for the congress to be held at the Accra Polytechnic.
It is on the theme “Restoring National Hope and Confidence”.
Nominations open today, Monday, March 17, 2008 and close on March 31, 2008.
Disclosing this to the Daily Graphic, Mr John Ameka, the Deputy General Secretary, said the decision was reached at its National Executive Committee meeting held last Wednesday.
He said the nomination forms for the flag-bearer positions would be available at the party’s national Secretariat only, while forms for national executive officers could be obtained from the national and all regional offices of the party throughout the country.
He said the cost of a presidential aspirant form is Gh¢ 500, while the nomination fee is Gh¢5,000. For the national executive positions, the forms cost GH¢ 10??????, while those vying for chairmanship, organiser, general secretary and women’s organiser would pay Gh¢ 200 as filing fee.
Those contesting as deputies for all national executive positions would pay GH¢ 100 as nomination fees.
Later in an interview, the National Chairman, Alhaji Abdul Rahman Issaka, said the announcement of the date and venue would put to rest speculations about the party’s congress date and venue.
He attributed the delay in holding a congress to the problems the party encountered in finding a venue and accommodation, which was occasioned by the MTN CAN 2008 tournament hosted by Ghana.
He said due to the tournament, the academic calendar of some of the tertiary institutions where the party wanted to hold its congress was affected “and the truth is that that has got nothing to do with financing”.
“Indeed, no political party can claim that it has no difficulty in raising expected funds for its activities. The DFP will certainly have some difficulty raising funds”, but that was not the reason for the delay, Alhaji Issaka said in response to speculations that the party was not able to hold its congress due to lack of funds.
He said as a serious political party, the DFP would always manage to prosecute its programmes within the schedule for the Electoral Commission (EC).
“The DFP finds it difficult to reconcile the assertion that the party is broke, with other allegations of the party being funded by stolen money from the NDC and some other sources,” Alhaji Issaka said.
He urged all political parties to see themselves as entities with common interest of developing the nation and engage in politics in a decorous manner and devoid of animosity.