By Brian Okoth
One of Ghana's 13 presidential candidates for the December 7 elections has died.
Akua Donkor, the founder of Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), died while receiving treatment at a hospital in Ghana's capital Accra on Monday, October 28 at around 10pm local time.
Donkor was one of Ghana's two female presidential candidates in the upcoming election. The other one is Nana Frimpomaa of the Convention People's Party (CPP).
The state-owned Ghana Broadcasting Corporation says Donkor died at the age of 72.
Abdominal complications
Ghanaian media report that the presidential candidate had been diagnosed with abdominal complications at a hospital in eastern Ghana on Saturday, October 26.
After being attended to, she was allowed to go home.
On Monday, Donkor suffered a medical emergency, and was taken to a major hospital in Accra for specialised attention.
Her running mate, Kwabena Agyeman Appiah Kubi, said he visited the presidential candidate at hospital at around 1pm on Monday, and left at 3:30pm.
What happens if presidential candidate dies before elections?
He would later, that day, receive a phone call at 10pm informing him that Donkor had passed on.
Kubi, who is in his early 40s, is a radio host in Ghana, and is famously known as Roman Fada.
Ghanaian law says if a presidential candidate dies after nomination, the electoral commission will allow the affected party 10 days to nominate a new candidate.
Once the new candidate has been nominated and cleared to run, the election can be postponed by up to 21 days. If the deceased person was an independent candidate, the election calendar is not affected.
Thirty-seven days to election
Today, Ghanaians have about 37 days to the December 7th elections, and all eyes will now be on the electoral commission for the next step.
As it is currently, time is still on the electoral commission's side to hold the polls around the planned date.
Donkor's running mate, Kubi, has expressed interest in becoming Ghana Freedom Party's presidential candidate.
The late Donkor was born in Ghana's southern region of Ashanti in February 1956.
Prominent cocoa farmer
Information about her educational background is scanty.
Later on in life, she became a prominent cocoa farmer, who developed an interest in politics.
In 2012, she applied to run for Ghana's president as an independent candidate, but her application was declined by the electoral commission for failing to meet minimum requirements.
She, thereafter, founded the Ghana Freedom Party, with the aim of fighting for the less privileged in the society.
Came 11th in 2020 elections
In 2016, she was, again, barred from running for president for failing to meet the minimum nomination requirements.
In 2020, Donkor met the cut, and was among the 12 candidates who ran for president.
She came 11th, with over 5,300 votes in an election that the incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo won with 6.7 million votes.
Former President John Mahama of the opposition party got 6.2 million votes, to come second.
Championed women's rights
In this year's election, Donkor was cleared alongside Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who is the ruling party's candidate, former President Mahama, and 10 others.
Donkor was passionate about agriculture, and also championed women's rights.
In her famous campaign pledge, she said she would increase maternity leave from three months to one year.
Donkor was a mother of several children.
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