NDC group advocates new primaries at Avenor-Ave

Accra, Feb. 7, GNA - The Movement for Change in Akasti District (MOCHAD), a pressure group made up of some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at Akasti in the Volta Region, has called on the National Executive Committtee of the party to organise new primaries in the Avenor-Ave Constituency.
This, according to the group would enable the people of Avenor-Ave to elect a parliamentary aspirant of their choice for Election 2012.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Francis Tengey, President of MOCHAD, alleged that Mr Edward Doe-Adhajo, incumbent Member of Parliament for Avenor-Ave was through unfair means unanimously re-elected to contest the Election 2012 parliamentary elections in the constituency.
“If the party fails to pay heed to our demand, we would have no option than to mobilise the good people of Avenor-Ave, particularly the youth, to rise up and fight the apparent injustice that has been perpetuated against us by the NDC party until the true representative of the people is ultimately elected to represent us in Parliament”.
The group expressed concern about the manner in which Mr Doe-Adjaho allegedly intimated all aspirants, who made efforts to contest against him in the party’s Election 2012 parliamentary primaries.
It particularly expressed concern about the maltreatment and unjustifiable manner in which Mr Evans Gadeto Djikunu; his main contender in the primaries was disqualified by the party executives in the constituency.
The group alleged that Mr Djikunu was falsely accused of allowing members who did not have party cards to endorse his forms, did not hail from Avenor or Ave and not a card-bearing member of the party.
It said: “These were all shameless and spurious allegations carefully calculated to discredit him and make him unpopular in the eyes of the constituents by his detractors.
“Lawyer Djikunu has become a hated figure and a pain in the neck of the constituency executives who did the bidding of the incumbent MP, Mr Doe-Adjaho and First Deputy Speaker of Parliament.”
The group noted that while other constituencies in the Volta Region were given the opportunity to choose their candidates through primaries, the Avenor-Ave Constituency had been denied this right.
It alleged that Mr Doe-Adjaho used his influence at the constituency and the national level to declare himself unopposed as the parliamentary aspirant for the constituency for the fifth time running since 1992.
“In fact for the past 20 years that Doe-Adhajo has been in Parliament, primaries has been held only once in 2004. He has always manipulated the party structures and the constituency executives to be re-elected unopposed for four consecutive terms.”
The group accused some NDC National Executives of not heeding to the their call to ensure a free and fair primaries in the constituency.
There were some armed police personnel at the venue to maintain law and order.