Kufuor dodges Alan as...

...NPP congress marred by irregularities

On Sunday, in a move that has surprised many New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporters, ex-President John Agyekum Kufour stayed away from voting in the Special Delegates Congress.

The novel congress organised to select five out of seven contestants for the party’s flagbearership saw over 700 top-ranking party executives, including founding members of the party and former party leaders, voting.

Ex-President Kufour’s abstinence has generated wild speculations about his motive.

He was billed alongside 79 other top echelon of the party to cast his vote at the party headquarters on Sunday’s congress, but after voting ended 3pm on Sunday, the ex-President had not showed up.

His Special Aide, Frank Agyekum explained that the ex-President had decided to steer clear of the voting process because he wanted to be a statesman.

“If there is a contest, a statesman cannot take sides,” Frank Agyekum told the media on Sunday and Monday. However, the ex-President’s move has sparked old conspiracies in the party about his ‘unflinching’ support for John Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanteng, the arch-rival of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, the incumbent flagbearer of the opposition party.

The ex-President is said to have been afraid to confirm this suspicion through his vote, a situation that could have easily been verified given the extremely limited number of people voting at the party’s headquarters.

Critics contend that for the argument of Frank Agyekum to be accepted, he will need to explain why ex-President Kufour voted for the party’s flagbearer in 2010 when Akufo Addo contended against Alan Kyeremanteng and a number of flagbearer aspirants and not want to vote this time around.

In the 2010 NPP delegates’ congress, ex-President Kufour was highly criticized for allegedly voting for Alan Kyeremanteng given his support for Alan Kyeremanteng who hails from his home region-the Ashanti Region, during a time when the Ashanti-Akyem power struggling was extremely potent in the party.

Party members have told this paper that the alliances of most of the individuals voting at the headquarters were known, incidentally, ex-President Kufour, his Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpianim and other top-ranking members of the party have been accused of fueling the deep-seated cracks between the Akyem and the Ashanti factions in the Akan dominated party.

However, others contend that ex-President Kufour’s abstention from voting on Sunday was a sign of dissatisfaction with the disunity, confusion and indiscipline that has beset the party and he appears in a hurry to distance himself from the party.

Confusion-ridden congress

Perhaps Mr. Kufour’s reluctance was justified given the spate of confusion and attempts at manipulation during the Sunday delegates’ congress.

There were reported cases of brazen disregard for the election process in the the Northern, Volta, Ashanti and Greater Accra Regions where the NPP clearly showed that it was not an alternative to the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) which it had criticized strongly during its intra-party elections.

In the Northern Region for instance, Anthony Karbo, the former Youth Organiser of the party and the Deputy Regional Chairman were seen openly displaying their thumb printed ballot paper to assure their paymasters of their vote.

This act led to confusion and violence that brought the voting process to a momentary halt. It had to take timely police intervention to avert a bloody clash.

Proxy Voting Mess

In the Volta Region, Ken Anku a known Alan Kyeremateng supporter and John Peter Amewu, the Regional Chairman were almost at fisticuffs over disagreements about the voting process.

Some members took advantage of the proxy voting system to manipulate the elections, the Republic newspaper has gathered.

The party’s regulations required that duly signed proxy forms should be presented before a supposed proxy is allowed to vote, however, this paper’s investigations revealed that several members brought either unsigned proxy forms, or did not present proxy forms at all, but were allowed to vote as proxies.

In the Greater Accra Region, Titus Glover the Member of Parliament for Tema East, was prevented from voting by proxy on behalf of Adwoa Sarfo by the Electoral officer in charge unless he obtains approval from the party’s general secretary. He in turn accused Kwabena Agyepong masterminding his prevention from voting by proxy.

Brazen Violations

The open and brazen violation of party rules and guidelines by leading members of the NPP, especially Akufo Addo supporters and the defiance towards the Paul Afoko-Kwabena Agyepong leadership is a clear indication of a party that is fast descending into lawlessness and disorder, critics have alerted.

The Chairman of the NPP, Paul Afoko, a known Alan loyalist, Anthony Karbo, the Deputy Northern Regional Chairman as well as former General Secretary of the party, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie (Sir John), were alleged to have displayed their thumb-printed ballot in clear violation of the guidelines for the elections.

“A party that does not respect its own rules cannot be expected to govern in accordance to Ghanaian law and show respect to the citizens,” an observer told this paper.

The NPP’s persistent failure to organize simple, minor party events without unsavoury incidents and violent disagreements is an indication of what has been described as the opposition party’s gross incompetence.

The confusion in a process involving just under 800 delegates adds on to the violence that ensued in the wake of attempts to change security personnel at their headquarters and the bloodbath at the same venue last week during a press conference by the Chairman and General Secretary.