Francis Addai-Nimoh, a former flagbearer aspirant of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) wants the party to decentralise the polling station executive elections to inject some sanity into the process.
Police personnel were deployed to the NPP office in the Manhyia North Constituency after party members clashed with executives over nomination forms.
The chaos erupted after the chairman of the election committee announced that the nomination forms would be on sale for new applicants vying for various positions at the polling station levels.
In an interview with Asaase News, Addai-Nimoh said: “One advice or suggestion I will put forward is that, for the polling station elections, for instance, we do not need in my opinion the whole national party to print so many forms at the national level for distribution to the regions and subsequently to constituencies.”
“Sample forms can be made available at the constituency level and at that level they can also copy as many as they can for people who come forward to purchase the form to contest, so that it doesn’t become a cost to the national party.
“In future we should not centralised all these processes in Accra. We should decentralise and allow the constituents, so eventually the membership of the party is at the constituency level not at the regional level…” Addai-Nimoh said.
I’m not surprised, says Freddie Blay
Freddie Blay, the national chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said he is not surprised that the party’s internal poll to elect polling station executives across the country is going through a few challenges.
He stated that although some of the challenges were envisaged, he did not expect internal issues at the local level to “degenerate into fisticuffs”.
However, he indicated that measures and laid down procedures have been instituted to deal with the electoral issues.
Speaking to Beatrice Adu on The Big Bulletin on Monday (21 February), Blay said: “Not at all [didn’t come to me as a surprise]. Really, I was not expecting it [challenges] that it’ll be huge and indeed, it has not been huge. Except that only in isolated places where these things have happened.”
He added: “…When you have an election people disagree and I don’t expect that it will degenerate into some fisticuffs and so forth. But, if it even does, we’ll contain it. We’ll make sure that this thing will not degenerate into something else. So, I’m not surprised at all.”
We’ll deal with persons who flout rules
Evans Nimako, the director of research and elections for the NPP has warned that leadership will deal with members who act contrary to the directives of the party in the election of polling station executives across the country.
Police personnel were deployed to the NPP office in the Manhyia North Constituency after party members clashed with executives over nomination forms.
The chaos erupted after the chairman of the election committee announced that the nomination forms would be on sale for new applicants vying for various positions at the polling station levels.
Nimako called for strict compliance to the party’s rules governing such elections in conversation with Kwaku Nhyira-Addo on the Asaase Breakfast Show.
“The mandate given to the polling stations and electoral area coordinators committee must be conducted in a manner as given in the rules and regulations for the conduct of these elections.
“We expect nothing more, nothing else than strict compliance to the directives given. All those who in one way or the other giving a certain posture that is not in consonance with the party’s rules and regulation will be taken off,” Nimako said on Monday (21 February).
Fred Dzakpata
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