Ashanti Region NPP Parliamentary primaries : some aspirants lament inability to pick forms
There is growing agitation in the Ashanti Region over claims that New Patriotic Party (NPP) executives are frustrating potential Parliamentary aspirants ostensibly to prevent them from contesting incumbent members of Parliament.
The information available to theghanareport.com indicates that aspirants in constituencies including Sekyere East, Asokwa and Bekwai are unhappy about persistent excuses by their constituency executives who have closed down their constituency offices. This, they say prevent them from picking forms for the primaries.
They claimed that they are being denied the opportunity to meet the party’s requirements to contest the primaries.
While there are no formal communications from the party, indications are that the party intends to protect its female MPs.
On PM Express Joy News, the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Joe Owusu-Wusu, advocated that the party needed to develop criteria based on the performance of its MPs.
He also held the view that the party’s first-time MPs should not be contested while the leadership of the party in Parliament should also be protected.
But a Senior Lecturer of the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Alidu Seidu disagrees.
He said the party’s decision was not “healthy for our democracy moving forward.”
He observed that the party’s decision to even determine how much aspirants pay for forms in itself was a stumbling block but within their rights of the party.
He said most of the issues raised by some of the sitting MPS were legitimate particularly concerning funding as primaries meant that the winner would have to spend twice on campaigning.
“It drains them financially. There is also a primaries penalty where if you allow people from the same party to contest, they may attack each other’s integrity and ability. If the person wins the primaries, the words traded could become a stigma and used as an insult by opponents.”
He, however, said all the issues being raised by the party are not about funding or integrity but rather consolidating and protecting sitting time MPs.
Mr Seidu argued that some of the first time MPs also benefitted from contesting others, therefore, it was not out of place for others to contest them.
He said MPs performance assessment should be left in the hands of electorates and all aspirants given the opportunity to contest,
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) on January 20, 2020, opened its nominations for Presidential and Parliamentary primaries.
The exercise ends on February 20, 2020.