Former Leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is all ready for the August 31 Special Electoral College of the party, his office has indicated.

This comes after media reports suggested that Nana Addo is avoiding the congress, which is to shortlist the seven presidential aspirants to five.

“It is not true that Akufo-Addo is running away from the August 31 race. In fact, to the contrary, he is rather looking forward to it,” a statement issued by Nana Addo’s Press Secretary, Eugene Arhin, on Tuesday said.

Below is the full statement:

AKUFO-ADDO READY FOR AUGUST 31 SPECIAL ELECTORAL COLLEGE

A faceless, email-based propaganda newswire that goes by the turgid name, ‘Ghana News’, emailed a story to media houses on Monday, August 18, bearing a false, sensational title 'Nana Akufo-Addo Runs Away From Super Delegates Conference'. This has been since published on www.ghanaweb.com.

According to the story, “Lawyer Owusu-Yeboah, who happens to be the Volta Regional Coordinator for Nana AkufoAddo’s presidency [sic] bid has petitioned the party’s leadership to cancel the special delegates conference slated for 31 August, 2014.”

We write to state categorically that Nana Akufo-Addo has absolutely nothing to do with any petition, and, indeed, has no reason whatsoever to have anything to do with any petition that seeks to challenge the New Patriotic Party’s clearly laid down constitutional procedure on how a presidential candidate is elected for the Party.

He is all in favour of the constitutional provision which calls for a Special Electoral College to shortlist the number of candidates to five and, as such, he is currently out there making a strong case to the delegates of this Special Electoral College for their votes.

So, it is not true that Akufo-Addo is running away from the August 31 race. In fact, to the contrary, he is rather looking forward to it. This story is purely mischievous. If, indeed, there are candidates out there who may wish to run away from the August 31 contest then Akufo-Addo is certainly not one of them.

It is also not true, as stated three times for effect in the ‘Ghana News’ story that Mr. Owusu-Yeboah is the Volta Regional Coordinator for Nana Akufo-Addo’s campaign.

Nana Akufo-Addo’s Campaign Coordinator for the Volta Region is Joseph Kwaku Nayan, former MP for Nkwanta North. This fact is widely known to NPP members in the Region, especially the Volta Regional and Constituency executives.

For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to emphasise that Nana Akufo-Addo has absolutely no reason to associate himself with the August 5, 2014 petition sent to the Party leadership, which is questioning the basis of the constitutional provision that calls for a Special Electoral College before the National Congress, scheduled for October 18, 2014.

It is not, and cannot be, the position of Akufo-Addo that the constitutional provision for a smaller Special Electoral College, where more than five candidates have filed to contest, is inconsistent with the provision that allows that shortlist of five to go before the much larger electoral college of the National Congress.

Contrary to the propaganda in the ‘Ghana News’ story, we wish to assure people that Akufo-Addo is confident of his chances on both August 31 and October 18, 2014. He is out there doing what he needs to do, convincing as many delegates as he possibly can to vote for him, first on August 31 and October 18, to be the 2016 Presidential Candidate of the NPP.

......signed......

Eugene Arhin

Press Secretary