Arthur Kennedy castigates NPP over candidates for primaries

A senior member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Kobina Arthur Kennedy, has descended heavily on the party for the manner in which some candidates for the upcoming parliamentary primaries were selected.

According to him the process has been “undemocratic” and leaves much to be desired.

The US-based politician, a one-time presidential aspirant of the party, made this known on TV3’s Hot Issues on Tuesday, June 9.

He said from the way the processes leading to the primaries have been conducted, the NPP has exposed itself as an undemocratic party.

“No democratic organization should discourage potential opponents of people it wishes to protect,” he told host Johnnie Hughes.

“That by definition is outright democratic.”

So far, about 65 candidates – mostly sitting members of Parliament – are going into the June 20 primaries without opponents.

According to the General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu, those candidates were cleared unopposed because no one qualified to contest them or those who initially filed to contest them withdrew.

Among these are Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensa-Bonsu, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Joseph Osei Owusu, Minister of Education Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Sports Isaac Kwame Asiamah, Minister of Works and Housing Samuel Atta Akyea and Minister of Communications Ursula Owusu Ekuful.

Dr Arthur Kennedy said no incumbent would need protection if they have invested in good works in their respective constituencies.

“The best protection for an incumbent is a good performance,” he stressed.

“But whenever an incumbent is afraid of competition, then it is a self-confession that he might not have done as well as he is claiming.”

Some of the supporters of disqualified aspirants resorted to invoking curses on the party’s leadership for the outcome of the vetting. They have since been recommended for suspension.

Dr Arthur Kennedy said it is even ironic that even some former MPs were disqualified in the process.

For him, the party is only democratic on paper.

“I mean some of the things that we have done could have been done better"