SOME MEMBERS of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Nkawkaw constituency in the Eastern region, calling themselves Concerned Members of the Party in the Constituency, on Friday staged a protest march at Nkawkaw to demand a date for the holding of parliamentary primary of the party in the constituency.
The members, carrying placards, some of which read, �We Demand Our Date Now� and �If No Date, Then We Shall Do It Ourselves�, said they would not accept any date beyond this year, stressing that they would like to conduct the primary in September so that they, as party foot-soldiers, could have enough time to campaign well for the party�s flag-bearer and the parliamentary candidate.
According to the leader of the group, Ben Owusu-Addo, certain actions of some national leaders of the party concerning the Nkawkaw primary could spell the doom of the party in the constituency.
According to them, reliable information from the national headquarters indicated that the party was intentionally biding time so that the headquarters would �foist� the current independent candidate for the area, Seth Adjei Baah popularly known as �Shaaba�, on the constituency as the party�s parliamentary candidate.
�Information from the electoral areas is that Shaaba has been visiting the executive members and delegates in the electoral areas, telling them that national headquarters of the party has preference for him as the party�s parliamentary candidate and that he would be ready to work with them,� the leader of the concerned members said.
He indicated that the party should allow for early primary and ask anybody, including the independent candidate, who is interested in contesting the primary to file his or her nominations.
�We are welcoming anybody who wants to contest and we think no restrictions should be put in anybody�s way for a fair contest,� Owusu-Addo pointed out.
According to him, the target of the constituency was 50,000 votes for both the presidential candidate and parliamentary candidate.
�In 2008, because of the unnecessary acrimony, our presidential candidate, who was Nana Akufo-Addo, had about 25,000 while our parliamentary candidate had just 15,000 as against the over 45,000 votes we had in 2004 for our presidential,� he said.
He said the party should not delude itself into thinking that an independent MP for the area could cause any havoc for the party, because the party had now resolved to remain united behind any parliamentary candidate for the 2012 elections.
�We must bear in mind that the new constituency campaign structure makes the parliamentary candidate the chairman of the constituency campaign team and the earlier the parliamentary candidate is elected to forge a united front and map out the right strategies for our campaign, the better it would be for us,� he stressed.
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