Samuel Appiah Darko, Director of Strategy, Research, and Communications at the Office of the Special Prosecutor, has proposed that Kwabena Agyeman Appiah Kubi, the running mate of the late Ghana Freedom Party (GFP) flagbearer Akua Donkor, should succeed her.
Akua Donkor, the founder and leader of the GFP, passed away on October 28 at Ridge Hospital in Accra. With the 2024 general elections approaching, her death has raised concerns about the party’s representation on the ballot.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has requested that the GFP nominate a replacement, as Akua Donkor had secured the third position on the presidential ballot.
During an appearance on Channel One TV’s The Point of View with Bernard Avle, Mr. Darko explained that the partnership established by the late flagbearer and her running mate positions Appiah Kubi, also known as Roman Fada, as a suitable successor.
Mr. Darko also pointed out a gap in Ghana’s Constitution regarding candidate replacements in such situations, emphasizing the need for clear guidelines for future elections.
“I’m of the considered opinion that the Vice Presidential Candidate takes over automatically, which might not even need EC to write to any of the parties to say can you bring me a candidate? Because remember, if they were to have won the elections, the vice president and the president would be deemed to have been duly elected.
“And when one dies, the other person takes over. In this instance, if I’m reading it very well, then it should even be that the Vice president candidate automatically should take over as the Presidential Candidate. Then in consultation with that political party, they could now nominate a second person to be say, the vice presidential candidate.
“My position is that in fact, this is a novel situation because the Constitution did not clearly demarcate in terms of the processes to follow. That is why the Constitution gave the EC the power to come out with what we call a Constitutional Instrument so that it could lay out how such a scenario could be cured. Unfortunately, the C.I 127 which we’re using is inept and didn’t anticipate the death of a presidential candidate.”
