<<Print>>Several National Democratic Congress (NDC) sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) have started panicking following the decision of the party to expand the electoral college that will be electing parliamentary candidates across the country on November 7. The party hierarchy met on Thursday, August 13 and took the decision.
This means that in every constituency as many as 2,000 or more party people will be queuing to select their parliamentary candidates for the 2016 general elections. The decision has, however, sent shivers down the spines of some sitting MPs, Daily Guide’s investigations have revealed.
Some NDC MPs, who spoke to Daily Guide on condition of anonymity after Thursday’s announcement, said the decision would not favour a lot of them whose experiences would be needed in the next Parliament.
“I am not too happy with the decision to expand the electoral college but who am I to openly criticise my party. They have taken that decision and it is irreversible,” an experienced NDC MP from the Greater Accra Region told Daily Guide.
Some candidates are also being sponsored by the executive to contest some experienced MPs in the coming primaries.
For instance, Samuel Dzata George, a communications consultant at the presidency, Flagstaff House, is contesting ET Mensah for the Ningo Prampram seat.
However, one other MP from the Volta Region, who is serving his first term in Parliament, told Daily Guide that the decision could either go against sitting MPs or favour them.
According to the new MP, sitting MPs who have lost touch with the party people in their constituencies or have not provided any concrete development for the constituents would certainly have serious problems at the primaries but those who have solid relationships with the grassroots and have given development to the people would easily sail through the primaries.
“In fact, one disadvantage will be that if the sitting MP comes from a constituency which has different tribes and belongs to the minority tribe, no matter how good he may be, the majority tribe members could vote against him and bring their own tribesman,” he observed.
The Volta MP also dismissed suggestions that the expansion of the electoral college would discourage vote-buying and bribery, stressing that the new system was like going for a general election and that every serious contender would have to ‘buy’ all opinion leaders and even chiefs in the area who would be ready to do his/her bidding or campaign for him/her.
“In fact, you still have to get the constituency executive members on your side because they are on the ground always and if you decide to ignore them, you would do that at your own peril,” he added.
Meanwhile, Daily Guide’s investigations have shown that the primaries will be keenly contested in the Volta Region. Some of the seats that will be keenly contested are the Ketu South, Ketu North, Akatsi South, North Dayi, Kpando, Hohoe and Agortime-Ziope seats.