Afoko courts controversy; openly displays his vote

National Chairman for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paul Afoko, stands accused of defying party regulations and undermining the integrity of the party's Special Electoral College after he reportedly openly displayed the candidate he had endorsed to another party activist before dropping it in the ballot box.

Paul Afoko is reported to have showed his thumb-printed ballot paper to his body-guard in the full glare of other bystanders.

Reliable sources disclosed to Peacefmonline.com that his action, which took the timely intervention of the Ghana Police Service to calm nerves, occurred at the College of Engineering Auditorium where delegates from the Ashanti Region were partaking in the voting process.

Although open support for a candidate is against the party’s constitution, pockets of such incidents have been recorded in some of the 11 polling centres in the ten administrative regions of the country, where voting to select five candidates who will then vie for the party’s flagbearership slot is happening concurrently.

In the Northern Region for instance, Kwabena Ntow of Filla Fm, who also doubles as Peace FM’s Correspondent in Tamale, reported that Anthony Karbo, the former NPP National Youth Organizer, held up his ballot paper in the direction of the delegates waiting in the queue to cast their vote.

Shortly afterwards and as if on cue, Alhaji Iddrisu, the Northern Regional Second Vice Chairman of the NPP followed suit, despite the furore that greeted Karbo’s action.

More to follow...