A leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Francis Addai Nimoh has admonished the party’s rank and file to avoid courting bad press if the party wants to break the eight and win the 2024 polls.
According to the former Member of Parliament for the Mampong constituency, the recent chaotic events associated with the reorganisation processes and election of polling station executives are a stark reminder of the troubling events that led to the party losing seats in the 2020 polls.
Conflicts have rocked some electoral areas across the country as the nomination forms for the election of polling station executives goes on sale.
Some NPP supporters in areas including Kwadaso in the Ashanti Region, the Akuapem South Municipality of the Eastern region and Ningo-Prampram in the Greater Accra region have accused their constituency executives of hoarding the forms.
The latest of the agitations took place at the Manhyia North constituency in the Ashanti region on Sunday, when some supporters protested a decision by the constituency executives to sell the forms to them.
Commenting on the development, Mr Addai-Nimoh called on the party’s leadership to sanction members whose grave but preventable infractions continuously drag the party’s image into disrepute.
“The main controversy is the hoarding of forms to prevent interested aspirants from filing their nomination, an issue I have been a victim of, in the past. I find it unacceptable that these matters would be happening in defiance of clear guidelines issued by the national party. It appears the horrifying events of 2020 that masked the party’s primaries are being replayed in 2022,” he said in a statement.
“I am calling on the party leadership to take a strong stance on the matter and sanction anyone who has made it a business to continuously drag the party’s image into disrepute. If breaking the eight come 2024 is top on our agenda, then we must do all that is necessary to prevent the party from courting bad press due to these grave but preventable infractions. The struggles of the party currently in parliament is a sequel of the 2020 primaries and we can’t afford to take lessons from it accordingly.”
“The events are troubling as we have witnessed instances of violence in some constituencies,” he said.
Source: Thenewsroomonline