GOC elections: Nominations open Tuesday

Nominations for the Ghana Olympic Committe (GOC) elections will open from Tuesday, February 21 to Tuesday, March 7. The various federations are therefore being asked to submit names of delegates who will vote during the elections to the commission by 5p.m. on March 7.

Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, the Secretary of the Electoral Commission of the GOC, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic, said nomination forms and the notice of congress would be sent by e-mail to all member-federations and shall also be available at the offices of the GOC.

He explained that there would be no voting by proxy, as well as substitution of delegates after the deadline and said federations that failed to meet the requirements before the March 7 deadline would forfeit their votes.

He, therefore, urged all federations to ensure that their prefered choice of delegates were presented. He said the three-member Electoral Commission of the GOC will write to the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to assist them to conduct the elections. “The commission will engage the National Electoral Commission to support us to supervise the process, together with the respective polling agents of the candidates,” Mr Ashigbey noted, and said “Olympic sport will present two delegates each, while non-Olympic sport are entitled to a delegate each”.

Meanwhile, checks by the paper revealed that the incumbent president of the GOC, Prof. Francis Dodoo, will contest the presidency for the second time, while Mr Paul Atchoe of the Volleyball Federation is also reported to have declared his intention to vie for the presidency.

Mr Ben Nunoo Mensah, who is the President of the Ghana Weightlifting Federation, has also been endorsed by some federations to contest the GOC presidential race. The contest for the position of vice-president, secretary general and others are equally expected to be very competitive.

Other members of the EC for the GOC elections are Messrs Thaddaeus Sory and Peter Zwennes.