Asante-Akim Central NPP youth invade party office over nomination forms

Some youth belonging to the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Asante-Akim Central Municipality, on Monday massed up in front of the Constituency Office of the Party to protest the alleged refusal by constituency executives to make nomination forms available for aspiring parliamentary candidates.

Clad in red and chanting war songs, the placard-wielding group calling itself "Concerned NPP Youth" vandalized the metal door of the office and set ablaze posters of the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Mr. Kwame Anyimadu Antwi.

They are accusing the constituency executives of scheming to allow Mr. Anyimadu to go unopposed by frustrating two other aspirants from accessing the nomination forms.

This is the latest protestation over alleged denial of access to nomination forms to interested aspirants of the NPP in the Ashanti Region, they said.

The last couple of weeks has witnessed such disturbances in the Bekwai and Mampong Constituencies of the NPP.

The angry protesters feared the situation if left unchecked, could lead to voter apathy among Party members in the Constituency and thus affect the fortunes of the NPP in the upcoming general elections.

According to the Asante Akim Central protesters, the executives had deliberately created an artificial shortage of the forms, yet they could not mention even one aspirant who had picked a form apart from the incumbent.

They, therefore, vowed to resist any attempt to protect the incumbent whom they accused of doing little to improve the lives of the people after serving two terms.

Two aspirants who have expressed interest in contesting in the forthcoming primaries are Mr. Ofosu Nkansah, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Accra Digital Centre and one Nana Agyemang, a banker by profession.

Sources from the Party in the Constituency say all efforts by the two to pick the forms at the Constituency, regional and national levels have proved futile and accused the executives of employing flimsy excuses to deny them the forms.

Mr. Nicholas Adu Berko, leader of the group, said they embarked on the action to bring the issue to the attention of the hierarchy of the Party after all efforts to compel the executives to do the right thing did not yield any results.

He said the NPP was a democratic Party that adhered to democratic principles, hence the action of the executives was a clear violation of the Party's constitution.

He, therefore, appealed to the Regional and National leadership to intervene as a matter of urgency, to ensure sanity in the Constituency.

Failure to do so, he noted, would compel them to support any independent candidate who emerges from the Party.