NPP chairmen fight leadership over cash

Revenue from the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Electronic Payment System (EPS), which was launched to raise funds to prosecute the 2012 general elections, has come under scrutiny once again, with constituency chairmen demanding answers from the First National Vice-Chairman, Fred Oware, as to how the money was spent at the national level.

The constituency chairmen, who are not satisfied with answers given so far by the national executives, have vowed to probe the matter before going to the polls to elect new national executives of the party come March 1, 2014.

The issue came to light when Mr. Oware met the 47 constituency chairmen in the Ashanti Region last Tuesday, November 12, 2013, to outline his vision for the party when elected as the National Chairman.

Responding to the issue, which was confirmed by the Regional Chairman, F.F. Anto, Mr. Oware told his fellow ‘kukrudites’ that such questions should not be directed at him, since he was not the head of the party.

He went ahead to assure the disgruntled executives that when he gets the nod as National Chairman of the party, he would make sure things were done properly.

He further told the members that he had long been against the idea of the National Secretariat controlling all the financial resources of the party, and argued that it is about time they decentralize the system.

He said when given the nod, he would not think about his personal interests, but that of the party would be first before any other thing. He promised to streamline the financial resources of the party when given the nod.

He told the party chairmen that under his watch, he would maintain a certain percentage of the revenue generated by the party at the constituency and regional levels.

Following the party’s loss to the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2012 general elections, and its subsequent loss in the Election Petition hearing, some party faithful and sympathisers have called for proper accounts of revenue generated from the EPS, through which funds were raised to run the operations of the party.

The EPS was an ambitious initiative, where members and sympathisers of the NPP contributed financially towards the running of the party, through a platform of text messaging.

Per the dictates of the technology, card-bearing party members were to send their contributions by texting NPP + party ID card number to the following network short codes: MTN (12012), Airtel (2012), Vodafone (+2012), Expresso (2012) and Tigo (2012).

Written on the card was the code number that dictates the region, constituency and polling station of the bearer.

Non-card bearing members were also eligible to send their contributions through the same channel, by texting NPP + Name of the sender to the aforementioned networks.

No specific amount was earmarked for contributors, but the minimum payment was pegged at GH¢1.

The party argued that the initiative was geared towards broadening the ownership base of the party, while ensuring a dubious-free process, as to who becomes a stakeholder in the party.