NPP parliamentary aspirant for Okere threatens court action
Mr Emmanuel Adjei Lartey, an NPP parliamentary aspirant of Okere constituency in the Eastern Region, has threatened to go to court over alleged deliberate scheme by the NPP executives to prevent him from picking a nomination form.
“I have a constitutional right to pursue this matter. I will consult broadly and if need be I will pursue it to the court and even if the party bans me for going to court so should it be because this is pure injustice and undemocratic,” Mr Lartey told the media at the Party’s headquarters at Asylum Down in Accra.
The NPP parliamentary aspirant said he went to the party’s constituency office and was refused access to the nomination form and further went to the regional office in Koforidua.
“At the regional office in Koforidua, Mr Jeff Konadu, the Regional Secretary gave the form to me, but he later came for it with the excuse that there is a mistake on the form so he wants to change it and since then I have not gotten access to the nomination form”.
“When I came to the Party’s headquarters today the Director of Elections, Mr Evans Nimako told me to go back to the region and see the regional chairman for the nomination form.
“I asked him why because other aspirants who were having difficulties accessing the forms at the constituency or regional level came to the headquarters and got them, but he still insisted I should go back to the region,” Mr Adjei Lartey lamented.
Mr Adjei Lartey said he had petitioned the NPP national executives about the development and believed that justice would be served.
Earlier in the day, some supporters of Mr Adjei Lartey protested at the entrance of the headquarters and threatened to vote against the incumbent Member of Parliament for the area, Mr Dan Botwe, who is also the Minister of Regional Re-organisation and Development in the December 7 Election, should their favourite candidate be denied the opportunity to contest in the April 25 primaries.
They alleged that the incumbent MP had lost touch with the grassroots support base of the party because he couldn’t provide them jobs.
Mr Francis Boateng, the Campaign Coordinator for the parliamentary aspirant, expressed disappointment with the Party’s leadership for discriminating against others who wanted to contest incumbent MPs, saying, “NPP claims to be the ‘Apostles of Democracy’ in Ghana, but clearly the maneuvering we’re seeing in this parliamentary contest is contrary to what they have been preaching”.
Meanwhile, when the GNA contacted the NPP Okere executive committee on the matter, Mr Richard Maglo, the Constituency Secretary, said Mr Adjei Lartey, the parliamentary aspirant, was not a member of the NPP, hence the party’s refusal to give the nomination form to him.
According to him, the parliamentary aspirant contested for the constituency chairmanship position in 2009 and when he lost, he took the party to court without recourse to the party’s structures.
Mr Maglo explained that since then, Mr Adjei Lartey had not taken part in any party activity and not paid any dues or contributed to the growth of the party.
“In view of that, all the 17 members of the executive committee and the District Chief Executive have resolved not to allow him pick the nomination form to contest Mr Dan Botwe, the incumbent MP,” Mr Maglo stated.
Asked whether the incumbent MP was aware of the situation, Mr Maglo said the MP was not in support of the executive committee’s decision.
However, the executive council of the party wanted to ensure discipline in the party, hence their insistence on preventing Mr Adjei Lartey to pick a nomination form to contest the party’s primaries, he added.
The Party closes filing of nomination forms for April 25 parliamentary primaries on Thursday, February 20.
Source: GNA