According to Adom Appiah, the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwasi Nyantakyi, the former president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), is qualified to compete in the party’s Ejisu parliamentary primary since he hasn’t been found guilty of any formal charges of corruption.
Tuesday, April 2, marked the opening of nominations for parliamentary candidates by the NPP in the wake of the death of John Kumah, the deputy finance minister and member of parliament for Ejisu.
Among the nine people who have so far picked up nomination forms to run for the position is the former President of the GFA.
Public outcry has been raised regarding Mr. Nyantakyi’s candidacy, though, since the widely read Number 12 exposé purportedly revealed the former GFA president to be dishonest.
Mr. Appiah said that he is eligible to select a form and run for office because, in his opinion, neither a court nor the former GFA boss had established the former’s guilt in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Eyewitness News on Citi FM on Wednesday.
The NPP Ashanti Regional Secretary added that while he thought Mr. Nyantakyi could run, it was up to the vetting committee to examine his application and make a determination.
“It is up to the vetting committee to peruse his documents filed and then come out with their verdicts. But on the other leg the issue of embarrassment and the likes of those. I don’t think for now there is a case against Mr Nyantakyi.
“A person is not guilty by the structure of our constitution on accusation or allegation of offences unless that person has subscribed to the guilt or proven guilty by the court. And the measure is beyond reasonable doubt. So, for now Mr Nyantakyi has not been proven guilty by any competent court of jurisdiction.”
“So, I am speaking on my part, as my personal view. I don’t think Mr Nyantakyi has been proven guilty by any court in Ghana. And until that is done or he himself admits his guilt before a court of competent jurisdiction, I will not say that Mr Nyantakyi is guilty and for that matter, he doesn’t qualify to pick a form to contest for Ejisu constituency,” he stated.
