Battle for supremacy brewing tension and division in NPP - Concerned youth

Some concerned youth of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Damongo constituency are raising red flags over what they describe as "Battle for Supremacy" in the constituency over executive appointments.

This battle they say has already caused tension and division in the NPP as it has stifled dissent and freedom of expression in the party.

The current executives according to the youth preached unity ahead of the NPP constituency elections but are now bent on stirring confusion and tension in the party over appointments.

In a press briefing, the youth appealed to the hierarchy of the party to intervene in arresting the situation. This they said if not done has the tendency of affecting the chances of the party from capturing the seat from the NDC.

"Unfortunately our executives are travelling on a slippery road by practicing what our parliamentarians do which is (Majority vs. Minority) whereby minority will always have a say but majority determines the way forward. This battle for supremacy has created so much tension and division in the party that hardworking and independent minded patriots at the grassroots refrain from speaking their mind for the fear of been tagged as belonging to faction A or faction B, which we think isn’t healthy for the party", the statement has said.

They entreated the appointing body to consider factors such as religious, tribal and geographical balances before making any executive appointment so some members do not feel neglected.

Read below the full statement:

CONCERNED YOUTH OF NPP DAMONGO CONSTITUENCY

THE BATTLE FOR SUPREMACY AMONG DAMONGO CONSTITUENCY EXECUTIVES”: A THREAT TO VICTORY 2020

Ladies and Gentleman of the media, we the members of the Concern Youth of NPP in the Damongo constituency have met you on this day 16th March, 2018, to present our reaction to the current happenings in our party (NPP) in Damongo constituency.

We the concern youth of NPP in the constituency deem it necessary to call for this press briefing in other to voice out our concerns on pertinent issues that faces the elephant family in Damongo constituency. We the youth won’t sit aloof and watch our executives drag the party onto a path that makes our future bleak by acting in a way which we deem as “battling for supremacy” among themselves. With about three hundred delegates who voted at the polls, the delegates never voted for you to come and battle for supremacy instead to collectively work together to drive the interest of the party forward.

Unfortunately our executives are travelling on a slippery road by practicing what our parliamentarians does which is (Majority vs. Minority) whereby minority will always have a say but majority determines the way forward. This battle for supremacy has created so much tension and division in the party that hardworking and independent minded patriots at the grassroots refrain from speaking their mind for the fear of been tagged as belonging to faction A or faction B, which we think isn’t healthy for the party. We humbly appeal to the executive not to forget of the promises they made to delegates that enabled them emerged victorious from the polls, they all preached unity in the round up to the election but now it appears none of them is practicing what they preached.

Ladies and gentlemen, on Wednesday 7th March, immediately after a meeting by the constituency executives around 3:00pm a purported list of appointed executives found its way on various social media platforms. This created tension because it appeared to the youth that it wasn’t endorsed by the entire executive board.

As we were still handling that on Thursday 8th March, the constituency Chairman granted an interview to local based community radio station PAD Fm 95.1 in Damongo he is quoted to have said “I am the chairman for the party in the constituency and I can tell you that such a list hasn’t been made. The list of names making round on social media is bogus.

We haven’t made any appointments to the constituency positions in the constituency”.Swiftly the secretary of the party additionally issued a press statement endorsing the stance of the chairman of which the statement had the heading “circulation of deceitful information about the appointment of constituency executive”.With the stance of the chairman and secretary, to our dismay on 9th March appointment letters were circulated on various social media platforms with purported signature of the chairman of which we are yet to get a response from the chairman or the secretary of the party.

On this circulated letters, the date on the letters is 7th March, 2018. We see this as a serious concern because the chairman and secretary categorically stated that no appointment was made during the meeting on 7th March when they held a meeting so we are all surprise to see two different set of appointments making rounds on social media of which all are referencing to the meeting on 7th March.

These developments on the appointments in the party at the constituency send shivers onto the spines of the youth of the party. The actions and inactions of the executives signals entrenched positions taken on the appointments which is creating cracks if not solved as early as possible. Before the controversies surrounding the appointments can be brought to end, we pray to the appointing authority not to narrow the appointment down to only the feuding factions. We shouldn’t forget of hardworking patriots and aspirants who aren’t aligned to any of these feuding factions.

We again entreat the appointing body to take into consideration religious, tribal and geographical balance before a group of people will feel neglected by the party. All these are the reasons for creating appointed positions but not for executives to use appointments as awards to their cronies whom they think fought their course.

Pursuant to the developments above we call on the following people

Mr. Albert Kassim Diwura the two times parliamentary candidate of the party in the constituency.

Lawyer Samuel Abu Jinapor the deputy chief of staff and a stake holder in the party at the constituency.

Hon. Saeed Muhazu Jibril (Jegede) the DCE West Gonja District

Mr. Sule Nyadia a onetime parliamentary candidate aspirant and a party stalwart.

Chief Alex Seidu Sofo the former MP for the constituency and the only one to have been to parliament twice on the ticket of the party in the constituency to intervene to bring sanity to the party in the constituency by making sure that the right things are done.

We want to bring to the notice of these party bigwigs, the party executives and all respected party stalwarts that the party is stronger and greater than any single or group of individuals, so they should be careful not to fall to the whims and caprices of some selfish and greedy individuals who doesn’t care about wrestling the seat from the NDC.

We are appealing to all these party stalwarts and all other respected party stake holders in the constituency to as a matter of urgency come to salvage the party before it goes on coma which may avert our effort to capture and unseat the current MP.

We again would like to urge the party at the regional and national level to consider coming in to settle this dust that has been raised by the selfish and greedy individuals for the larger interest of this great Party especially our teeming hard working supporters at the grassroots. We the youth need hope, we need jobs. We plead with our leaders to bring their heads together and find us jobs and stop battling each other for supremacy.

…Signed…

Kanyiti Saburu Kantama

0540206233

Convenor

Asumah Abdul Sammed Kifantang

0554432639

Member

James Haruna Kodzi

0546203698

Member

Thank you.

Long live Damongo Constituency NPP.

Long live our teaming Youth.

Long live NPP.

Long live Ghana.

Cc:

Damongo constituency NPP Executives

Regional NPP Executives

National NPP Executives

All media houses

Source:Ananpansah B Abraham