The Appeals Committee of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP’s) decision to clear some disqualified persons has come face-to-face with a strong opposition from the Greater Accra regional executives of the party.
“Inconsistencies” and “lot of mistakes” were the reasons cited by the Ishemeal Ashittey-led executives for rejecting the clearance by the Appeal’s Committee.
At a news conference in Accra yesterday, the chairman indicated that they (executives) “… feel we should not allow this report to stand so we are rejecting the report,”
Citing Benjamin Armah Ashittey in the Tema East as an example, he noted that even though the Appeal’s Committee requested them to allow him contest, the same report in its recommendations stated that it had “reservations regarding his membership of TESCON,” during his tertiary says.
Carlos Ahenkorah of the Tema West Constituency and some three other aspirants were beneficiaries of the decision by the NPP’s Appeal’s Committee. They were cleared to go ahead to contest the Parliamentary primaries set for June 13.
However, the Deputy Constituency Secretary of the party in Tema West, Richard Nii Amugi, has petitioned the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party over the decision to clear Mr. Kingsley Ahenkorah to contest the upcoming NPP Parliamentary primaries in the Constituency.
According to him, there was no National Representative on the Appeals Committee which cleared the hitherto disqualified candidates.
In the petition, Richard Nii Amugi noted that, "I am also informed that the vetting report signed by the committee chairman who is also the chairman of the council of elders as well as majority of the committee members was not the report that was put before the appeals committee."
According to the petition, the committee chairman was not able to prove nurturing for a period of 4 years preceding an election in the Tema West Constituency, and also not able to prove he votes in the Tema West Constituency.
It was also alleged in the petition that Kingsley Ahenkorah had two party ID cards from 2 different constituencies but lied about them, and also confirmed that Tema West was one of the coastal seat reserved for Ga indigenes and that he wanted to try his luck.
For these reasons, Kingsley Ahenkorah was disqualified by the vetting committee.
The Secretary of the Tema West Constituency of the NPP is therefore appealing for the issue to be verified and the verdict set aside to let justice prevail in Tema West Constituency.
Tension is however mounting in the constituency over this development as, the Tema West NPP members have threatened to vote against the party if their preferred candidate was disqualified.
They are convinced that Ahenkorah is the best candidate to retain the seat for the party in 2016 if allowed to contest the primaries.
<<Print>>