Moses Tagba
Some ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) members in the Tatale-Sanguli Constituency in the Northern Region are protesting the treatment meted out to them in the recently-held constituency elections.
They are claiming that the leadership of the party especially those in the region did not hold any elections in the constituency yet the old executives have been sworn into office once again.
Leader of the agitated members, Moses Tagba who said he was the constituency Campaign Manager during the 2016 general election, told DAILY GUIDE yesterday that the constituency executives with tacit support of some regional executives of the party did not open the process for any member to contest the incumbent executives.
“They hoarded the application forms and never allowed anybody to have access to them in spite of our numerous petitions and protests and by the time we became aware all the executives had been sworn in without any election,” he claimed, adding “they barred everybody from contesting them although there were so many people willing to lead the party.”
He said he wanted to contest the chairman but the constituency executives in collaboration with some regional officers said they had passed a resolution barring people from contesting the executives and added that “it is undemocratic and there is no basis for it.”
In the petition filed on January 8 and another one to the NPP National Executive Council (NEC) on February 21, the petitioners said the grounds on which the leadership in the constituency decided not to allow anybody to contest them was flimsy.
The petitioners attached a letter indicating that the current chairman of the constituency, Kwasi Mpoan, was suspended by the party for breaching Article 3 Section (H) (1) of the party’s constitution in September 2016 after he openly supported an aggrieved member who was contesting as independent parliamentary candidate.
He said the same person has been brought back into the party and is allegedly leading the effort to prevent others from contesting for positions in the constituency.
He said “we don’t want to drag the party to court as others have been doing. We want to use the party’s channels to address this issue. We are also asking for the same privileges that were given to them to become executives of the constituency.”
By William Yaw Owusu