GBARNGA, Bong – The Alternative National Congress has conducted its primary for aspirants wanting to contest on the party’s ticket in the October elections in Bong.

Six of the seven candidates were elected on white ballots with the exception of the third electoral district, where Augustus Flomo defeated David Lawor, Sr. in a landslide.

In the first electoral district, Patrick Clarke won the slot. Matthew Siakor, Jr. emerged as the victor for the second district, while Representative Lester Paye secured the slot for the fourth district.

Peter Flomo and Allen Sumo occupied the slots in the fifth and sixth districts, respectively, while Morris Tokpah won the seventh district primary.

The primaries were held at ANC’s headquarters in Gbarnga.

Meanwhile, one of the contestants of the primary in the third district, Stephen J. Mulbah Jr., has filed a protest during the process.

Mulbah wrote in his letter dated June 20, 2017, “I hereby register that I cannot participate in a primary that the delegates were selected under the influence of one of the aspirants, Mr. Augustus B. C. Flomo.”

Mulbah further noted that the district coordinator, Simeon Gboe Mulbah, had been a close confidant of Flomo and had refused to allow him access to any of the delegates for him to convince them to vote in his favor.

Candidates are expected to campaign to attempt to win over the delegates, who vote for their choice in the primary.

A total of 34 partisans, including local officials of the ANC in the third district, made the listing of delegates for the district’s primary. Twenty-nine of this number voted in the district’s primary while five were absent without prior notices, according to Nyanke-Hne Hodge, the head of the primary committee.

“I hereby request a prompt investigation and that Mr. Simeon Gboe Mulbah [does] not participate in the process along with his assistant coordinator,” Mulbah’s letter continued.

He also recommended new vetting of delegates with the consent of all the three aspirants in the primary for the district.

Amid his protest, the primary for the third district was held for Augustus Flomo and David Lawor Sr.

When contacted about Stephen Mulbah’s protest, ANC’s deputy secretary general, Nyanke-Hne Hodge, who conducted the primary described the protest as “null and void.”

He said the party cannot honor the protest because Mulbah did not follow the due process in filing complaints under the party’s guidelines for the primaries.

Hodge said Mulbah should have filled in this complaint two weeks ahead of the primary.

“If he had any protest, he should have written two weeks to the process, according to our primary guidelines,” Hodge told The Bush Children.

When The Bush Chicken requested a copy of the guidelines for the ANC’s primaries, Hodge informed our reporter that he had to seek permission from the national chairperson of the primary committee before handling the document to the reporter.

Featured photo by Moses Bailey