MPs For Akufo-Addo Angry

The Member of Parliament of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) who have openly and silently thrown their weight behind Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, a leading contender in the flagbearership slot of the party, are enraged over allegations making the rounds that monies were given to the MPs for the 2008 campaign did not reach the polling station executives.

According to them, anybody who contested the election knows that monies given by the party were given to the various constituency chairmen and the candidates jointly, and these monies only formed a small percentage of the total expenditure at the constituencies. Hon. Osei-Prempeh, Member for Nsuta Kwamang Beposo, who was also the former Deputy Attorney-General, stated in a press release yesterday that, “Most MPs really spent their own monies also during the campaigns, campaign monies given to the candidates could not even pay for T-shirts and poster alone.”

According to the MPs, “we believe Nana is the one who can win the presidency for us. We wish to reiterate that our support for Nana Akufo Addo is not for any selfish gain.”

“We are Members of Parliament representing people in our various constituencies all over the country and what the people are telling us is that they want Nana Akufo Addo. We cannot ignore the voices of the people we represent. We are going to the market to sell. The opponents of Nana Akufo-Addo who are peeved that their preferred candidate has not been endorsed by Members of Parliament have resorted to outright lies, deceit and plain insults,” they underscored.

The NPP Constitution lays down the rules for the selection of parliamentary candidates. It will be recalled that during the last National Delegates Conference of the party at the Trade Fair Centre, Accra, delegates, rejected proposals to amend the portion of the Constitution dealing with the selection of candidates. They made it clear that they preferred the current method of going through primaries to select parliamentary candidates.

“It is sad that some people who should know better are going round saying that MPs who are supporting Nana Addo are non-performing. Such detractors are MPs who want to be protected by Nana (in retaining their seats in the primaries in 2010),” lamented one of them who did not want his name mentioned.