A law lecturer at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Justice Abdulai, has said the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the four flag bearer aspirants of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is “not good enough to deter anyone” from undertaking any post-election decision.
The NPP Council of Elders Thursday, November 2, 2023, asked the four persons vying to lead the party into the 2024 polls to take part in the exercise. All the four flag bearer aspirants said they were going to accept the outcome of Saturday’s elections, irrespective of the result. The MoU also mandates the candidates not to leave or resign from the party if the results do not favour them.
But according to Justice Abdulai, even though “once you sign unto a contract, you accept the terms and conditions of the contract and any breach of that contract could be used against you in the form and manner as stipulated in the contract”, this MoU signed by the delegates, he thinks, would not bind anybody.
“Legally binding, it is, but I don’t think it is something that any of the parties would be willing to act upon considering the ramifications that it would have on the overall party’s electoral chances and the damaging image that it would bring along.”
Speaking with Alfred Ocansey on Ghana Tonight Thursday, November 2, the law lecturer asserted that “usually this is supposed to be morally compelling for the parties who might lose the elections even if it is a legal document but it is to usually serve as a moral check on them just in case they lose and they intend taking any drastic decision that would ultimately affect the chances of the party, they would look at this piece of document and possibly reconsider their decision not because they fear the document but because once they know they have appended their signature to that document, they would be more circumspect in the decisions that they would take.”
Talking about how the document could be binding on the candidates not to take any drastic decision after the poll, he noted that “none of the parties signed unto this document would be really scared of the impact it would have on himself if he takes that decision out of pain to either resign from the party or any other decision he would take going forward.”
“So, it is good for the purposes of letting them know that the party is not there to do any mischief and regardless of the outcome, we all must come together and possibly move the party forward but it’s not good enough to deter anyone,” he indicated.
Contesting for the flag bearer slot on Saturday, November 4 are: Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia who has been tipped to win by a bigger margin.
The Vice President is followed by Assin Central lawmaker, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong as the next favourite candidate to win the elections.
The others are former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto and former Mampong MP, Francis Addai-Nimoh.
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