Vicky Bright Loses Appeal

Unless she decides to contest as an independent candidate, Vicky Bright, a former deputy minister at the Presidency in the erstwhile Kufuor administration, has hit a dead end in her desire to become the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Okaikoi South in the 2012 elections, according to information reaching Daily Guide. Ms Bright lost the constituency parliamentary primaries to Ahmed Arthur, a former assembly man for the area but quickly petitioned the NPP Appeals Committee, calling for a re-run of the primaries. Daily Guide can confirm that her petition has been dismissed and thrown out by the committee chaired by Samuel Odoi-Sykes, an ex National Chairman of the party and a former Ghana High Commissioner to Canada. Vicky Bright, in her petition, had complained that the bona fide members of the Electoral College were disenfranchised at the primaries and that the photo album compiled by the constituency which was used was the wrong one. A source close to the Appeals Committee told Daily Guide however that after a thorough and independent investigation into the issues raised by Vicky Bright, it became evident that her allegations were false. The source revealed further that the committee found out that no delegate was prevented from voting at the said primaries. It was also found that the voters� register that was used at the primaries was a genuine one that was compiled by the constituency executive and that it went through the laid-down procedures agreed on by the party. �It was the same voters� register that the constituency gave to the national office that was used on that day. The national office, after receiving the register, gave it to the Electoral Commission. The Electoral Commission only rearranged the names in alphabetical order but neither removed nor added any name and that was what was used at the primaries,� the source noted. Even before addressing her complaint to the NPP, Vicky Bright went public with her complaints, a gesture that was frowned upon by several NPP members. Moments after the results were declared in favour of Ahmed Arthur, Vicky Bright complained to Joy FM: �I have major issues with the election process, in the sense that the number of votes cast that were ticked in the register does not tally with the number of votes that were actually cast�.Somebody obviously was not doing their arithmetic properly.� She lost the said primaries by some 12 votes and has since not overcome the shock, considering the fact that she seemed to have enjoyed the backing of the constituency executive. The incumbent Member of Parliament, Nana Akomea, did not hide his preference for Vicky�s contender, Ahmed Arthur, who emerged winner. It is however too early to conclude how Vicky Bright would receive the decision taken by the Appeals Committee. The committee looked into complaints from a couple of other constituencies and DAILY GUIDE has gathered that there would be a re-run of the primaries in one constituency in the Ashanti Region. The national officers of the party will sit on the report of the committee today, according to the Daily Guide source.