John Boadu
The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has released its official guidelines towards its impending Constituency Primaries to elect constituency executives alongside its Chapter and External Branch elections.
It has therefore cautioned all those who are getting involved in the process to play by the rules to ensure a smooth and incident-free exercise.
At the unveiling of the party’s plans in Accra yesterday, acting General Secretary John Boadu said following the expiration of the mandate of the current constituency officers and in pursuance to Article 7 of the party constitution, new elections needed to be held for the party to continue to run.
He said the National Steering Committee of the party, at its second general meeting for 2018 held on Wednesday, February 6, considered and approved the rules and regulations for the conduct of constituency primaries scheduled for February 21 to 24, 2018.
According to the acting General Secretary who doubles as the incumbent National Organizer of the party, the Annual Constituency Delegates Conference stipulated in Article 7 (26) of the NPP constitution spells out who qualifies to be a delegate.
He said members of the Constituency Executive Committee, all Electoral Area Coordinators, all the five polling station Executives, five members of the council of elders, five constituency patrons of the party as well as any founding members from the constituency who is a signatory to the registration document of the party at the electoral commission.
He said there will be a Constituency Elections Committee (CEC) which he said “shall conduct the Constituency Officer’s elections at the scheduled dates (21st – 24th February, 2018) and at a venue as the CEC may determine,” adding that the CEC shall comprise of one National Representative appointed by the National Steering Committee who shall be the chairperson of the CEC, one Regional Representative appointed by the Regional Executive Committee who shall be the secretary to the CEC as well as one Representative appointed by the Constituency Council of Elders.
“A member of the CEC shall not be eligible to contest for any position in the Constituency elections and a prospective candidate must be an active and known member of the party of good standing for at least two years.”
Among other rules and regulations, Mr. Boadu said that “if for any reason, an applicant is unable to procure an Application Form from the CEC, he/she may petition the Regional Chairman or General Secretary, for an endorsed Application Form at the Regional or National Secretariat respectively,” adding that “the Constituency Album shall be used as the Register for the conduct of the elections.”
“The delegates to the conference shall vote with their party ID cards; but where same is unavailable, National Voters’ ID cards may be admitted by the CEC for the purpose of voting.”
According to the acting General Secretary, the positions to be contested for include Constituency Chairperson, Constituency 1st Vice Chairperson, Constituency 2nd Vice Chairperson, Constituency Secretary, Constituency Assistant Secretary, Constituency Treasurer, Constituency Organizer, Constituency Women Organizer, Constituency Youth Organizer as well as Constituency Nasara Coordinator.
Mr. Boadu further said that for the election of Chapter Executives, there would be Chapter Annual Delegates Conference of the party from 15th to 25th February, 2018 to, among other things, elect Executives for the various Chapters.
He also said Branch Annual Delegates Conference shall be held from 18th to 30th March, 2018 to, among other things, elect Executives for the various External Branches of the party.
He said the steering committee has directed each of the 10 regional executive committees of the party to, with immediate effect, organize an expanded regional executive committee meeting comprising all the constituency executives in the respective regions and the meeting, which would be held under the supervision of at least one national officer, shall set the stage for the constituency delegates.’