The disqualified candidates are ‘lazy’- Prof. Ayogyam

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong

Professor Alexader Ayogyam, Lecturer at the Kumasi Polytechnic says the 13 Presidential candidates who have been disqualified by the Electoral Commission (EC) from contesting the December 7 Presidential election are simple lazy.

“I can say that they are lazy. If none of them is able to take the pace to ensure that there will not be any problem associated with what they were doing, that tells you that they do not care. And that makes them lazy,” he added.

According to Professor Ayogyam, these candidates did not border to makes sure that their forms and everything are correct so that in future they will not get any problem. “This tells you the kind of people who want to be the president of this country.”

He mentioned that maybe some of them left their documents for someone people who do not have any knowledge to handling their forms for them. “Such a person if we do not take care and we vote for such person to become president, this country will be in trouble for a very long time.”

While speaking on Adom FM, an Accra based radio station morning show, he said “I believe their disqualification is God’s intervention through the Chairperson of the EC. It’s a very good thing that has happen to this country.”

However, “there are one or two candidates among them who I believe it’s unfortunate these things have happen to them, especially Dr. Paa Kwesi Ndoum of Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Nana Kunadu Agyemang Rawlings of National Democratic Party (NDP) and Dr. Edward Mahama of People’s National Convention (PNC).”

But he stated that that’s how it supposed to be. “If you have been given something to do and you play about it, it makes your progress and developments go waste. Disqualifying a lot of them will bring sanity in the campaign politics by the parties.”

“Some of the candidates have started using bad languages and insulting others which are not good for our democracy. If God’s willing they have been disqualified, it will bring peace in our election campaigns and we will get the best person to lead the country,” said Prof. Ayogyam.

“If you have been asked to bring a running mate and you tell the whole country that your running is 18 years old, are you serious? So that person is telling the whole Ghanaians that she did not see anyone who is important and older enough to succeed her in future if she is not there as a president?

“Look at the number of people, who have registered as voters in a particular district or constituency, you did not get anyone over there to endorse your form for you, unless someone who has already endorsed another person’s forms? Where they serious at all? This is the laziness am talking about.

He pointed out that the 13 candidates did not do a very good work. “Something a class one pupil can do, you sat down for this to elude you on the form? Then seriously you are a lazy. If such a person becomes a president he/she can sell this country at ago.”

“The forms were not given to them a day before the deadline. They were given the forms so many days or even a month and they were not able to tell themselves to go all over the forms to see if there are any mistakes on the forms,” he was wondering why that could happen.

“You have finish writing your exams which you have some amply time to glance through your exams paper to see whether everything is correct in order to amend your misstates, you failed to do that and you presented your paper to the examiner and later you failed your exams, that means you are a lazy person,” he reiterated, adding that such people do not deserve sympathy.

He said the position these people were seeking is a serious a position. “This is not an Assemblyman position. They want to be president. If they want to be president they should be articulate, serious and take away any laziness attitude.”

Prof. Ayogyam said from the time they were given the forms till the time they submitted the forms, there was an opportunity for them to go back to the EC to ask question if they do not understand certain things, but they failed to that.

He said the candidates themselves did not recognize they have done mistakes until the announcement by the EC before they got know the ‘childish’ mistakes they have done.

“It pains me a lot that with the person of Dr. Paa Kwesi Ndoum can do such a mistake. Someone like Dr. Henry Lartey has disgrace his father. There is no point in time that Mr. Dan Lartey has been disqualified from an election period.”

“If Madam Charlotte Osei pardons these people then she is bringing a bad material for Ghana. What the EC Chairperson has done is to tell Ghanaians that she want a very good material for the country. So if these remaining four have been able to go through successfully this means that any one of them who wins the election is a good material for the country.”

“We are not playing in this country. It’s God’s intervention. It’s God’s will for the EC to separate the boys from the men. Because I can see it clearly that those who have been disqualified with the exception of one or two people, majority of them are not serious at all. Their serious levels are below standard.”