DON'T DECLARE SUPPORT FOR ASPIRING MPs PUBLICLY — ANKOMAH (Page 13)

Story: Kwame Asiedu Marfo, Takoradi

THE Western Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Owusu Ankomah, has advised constituency executives and polling station chairmen of the party, particularly those in Evalue-Gwira, not to publicly declare their support for any aspiring parliamentary candidate.
He explained that doing that would not augur well for the internal unity and peace of the constituency and the party as a whole.
Nana Owusu Ankomah told the Daily Graphic in a reaction to a report to the effect that all the structures in the Evalue-Gwira Constituency were intact and that most of the 78 polling station chairmen were solidly behind a particular aspirant who had declared the intention to contest the seat on the ticket of the NPP.
He explained that the executives could support a sitting Member of Parliament (MP) but not an aspirant, since it was against the party’s constitution.
“If you are a constituency executive, you cannot declare your support for an aspiring MP,” he stressed.
According to the regional chairman, in 2004 there was a local alliance between the NPP and the Convention People’s Party (CPP) in which the NPP decided not to contest the Evalue-Gwira seat and left it to the CPP.
Nana Owusu Ankomah said in this year’s parliamentary election, there was the likelihood that the NPP would field a candidate.
The Evalue-Gwira Constituency Secretary of the NPP, Mr Francis Bob Etsuah, who is said to be the source of the story, explained to the Daily Graphic that a journalist called from Accra and wanted to know the political situation in the constituency.
“I said we had fully prepared for the 2008 elections and that it was certain that the NPP would field a parliamentary candidate,” he explained.
Mr Etsuah said when the journalist asked about the chances of Mrs Catherine Abelema Afeku, the Government Spokesperson on Infrastructure, winning the seat, he said her chances were bright.
He said he told the reporter that so far four people had shown interest in contesting the seat on the ticket of the NPP.
He explained that through that, he was trying to let the public be aware of the political situation in the constituency.
He has, meanwhile, apologised to the contestants, supporters and the party as a whole if his interview and subsequent report had not gone well down with any of the affected parties.