NPP Flags, Signboards Removed

As an incumbent ruling party, the likelihood that the benefit of incumbency will help stoke up the chances of parliamentary candidates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the next general elections, could suffer a dent from the hysterical and frenzied tactics being adopted by some of the candidates heading for the on-going primaries of the party.

The hysterical and frenzied tactics adopted by some of the candidates for the primaries, as The Independent?s monitoring revealed, borders on indecency and other acts of barbarism by supporters of the prospective candidates. Newsmen also unearthed a likely case of history repeating itself, as happed after the 2000 fate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), where candidates who lost the candidacy to others in that party, petitioned the party headquarters in Accra, whilst some who did not receive favourable response, threatened to go independent.

It remains to be seen if those candidates will carry out their threat; but a political analyst newsmen spoke to on the matter, pointed out that the NPP, although has a big problem with regard to its primaries, is still having its primaries as opposed to the NDC in 2000, which imposed candidates on the party in some of its constituencies.

Nevertheless the furore over the NPP?s preparations towards its primaries continue as newsmen reports. According to newsmen, John Cudjoe-Mensah, the Youth Wing of the NPP in Jukwa and Twifu Hemang (in the Twifu-Hemang Lower Denkyira District) have called on the National Executive of the party to declare the recent executive elections held at Wawase on Thursday, April 29, 2004 as null and void.

According to the youth, the election of the local executive was not preoperly conducted because the Presiding Member of the Twifu-Hemang Lower Denkyira District Assembly, Rev. Ben Donkor, used his position to influence some polling chairmen of the NPP to vote for his favourite, Mr Emmanuel Appiah Kubi, as the chairman of the Jukwa Twifu-Hemang branch of the NPP.

Rev. Ben Donkor is one of the candidates contesting the impending NPP primaries for the newly crated Twifu East Constituency. And according to the irate youth, with his new position which they say he did not win fairly, Mr Appiah Kubi, the youth contended, is likely to help Rev. Donkor to have an unfair advantage over all the other contestants.

As a result, the irate youth together with the members of the local NASARA Club in the Jukwa Twifu-Hemang area have removed all NPP flags and signboards and replaced them with those of the Convention People?s Party (CPP).

They Have also vowed never to vote for NPP, if the national executive fails to investigate with urgency, their grievances, and take the necessary action. But the National Chairman of the NPP, Harona Esseku told newsmen in a telephone interview that the issue was yet to hit the corridors of the National Executive in Accra. He nonetheless assured that his office would find out from the local party executive in the Jukwa Twifu-Hemang area, to ascertain the validity or otherwise of the allegation. All attempts by the chiefs of the town to calm the enraged party youth and members of the local NASARA club, have so far failed.