Bawku NPP Sympathisers Accuse Party's Chairman Of Sidelining Youth Wing

The cracks in the Bawku Central New Patriotic Party, NPP are far from over as some supporters numbering hundreds subject the constituency chairman,Yussif Salifu and other executives to strong slam for allegedly treating the elders and youth wing of the party with disdain and disrespect.

The irate supporters of the party have accused the constituency chairman of sidelining the grassroots, elders and financiers of the party and setting an agenda to stifle scores of supporters of the party from accessing information on happenings of the party at the regional and national levels.

They further allege the constituency chairman, Mr. Salifu and a member of the Council of State, Alhaji Sule Yiremea have been taking decisions on behalf of members of the party in the constituency without consulting elders and the youth wing of the party.

The disgruntled supporters, led by their Spokesperson, Abdulai Yahaya, in a news conference in Bawku of the Upper East Region, threatened to wage a massive protest against leadership of the NPP if they failed to rescind their decision of appointing a disloyal member, Ustarz Umar, who was 'handpicked' by the chairman to contest the Municipal Chief Executive position in the Bawku Municipality.

"After conducting the final interviews of the candidates for the position of the Municipal Chief Executive, information reaching us indicates that, there are some manipulations in favour of one particular candidate in the person of Mr. Ustarz Umar. This our firm belief is grounded on a meeting that was held on the 12th April, 2017 by the Constituency Chairman, Yussif Salifu, where he told polling station executives that the president had nominated Umar Ustarz for the position of the MCE", Mr. Yahaya said.

This is the second time the frustrated supporters of the party organised a news conference to register their displeasure over some unfortunate political developments that characterised the party in the constituency after president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and the NPP got the mandate to rule Ghana after emerging a huge political victory in the 2016 polls.

According to the spokesman, sympathisers of the party would not sit tight lipped as the constituency chairman and his cronies continued to manipulate the appointment of the MCE in favour of a member of the party, whose commitment to the party was questionable.

He stressed, "Mr. Salifu did not only tell the polling station executives about the nomination of Mr. Umar as MCE, but he (the chairman) had the latitude to issue threats to anybody who would raise any objection or protest against the nominee and that he would call for the arrest of any party member who attempted to demonstrate against that decision as information reaching him indicated that such protests were likely to greet the President's nominee".

The supporters, who vociferously questioned the loyalty and commitment of the chairman's favourite to the NPP, also warned president Nana Akufo Addo against nominating Mr. Umar as the MCE for the area, failure, they would bid 'bye-bye' to the elephant's family.

The party's sympathesers, therefore, appealed to the National Executive Committee, NEC of the NPP to call the chairman and some of his executive members to order since their activities had the tendency to split the party and throw it into disarray.

A member of the NPP, Miss Ayi Jambaidu, in an interview with Peace news on sidelines, condemned what she describepd as rude behaviour orchestrated by the constituency chairman as regards to the alleged manipulations in the MCE appointment, indicating the rank and file of the party would not sit in stunned silence as the executives persisted to take decisions at the expense of loyalists of the party.

Meanwhile, the disgruntled supporters, in a month ago, held a news conference to propose some two names, whom they said had worked tremendously for the consistent improvement of the electoral fortunes of the party in the constituency, and asked president Nana Akufo Addo to consider one of those names for the position of the MCE.