NPP Bans MPs

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Thursday evening rose from a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the party’s headquarters with an order that none of its Members of Parliament should take part in organizing any of the 230 constituency elections to either renew the mandate of constituency officers or elect new ones.

The MPs, who are hitherto members of the Elections Committee at the constituency level, have by this decision, been stripped off that position. The rationale, according to the party, is to prevent a conflict of interest situation, as the MPs have a direct interest in who becomes a constituency officer.

Sources said the party took the drastic decision to prevent the acrimony that characterized previous elections at the constituency level which one way or the other affected the fortunes of the party. The NPP decided that the chairperson of the council of elders at the constituencies must take charge of the elections in their respective constituencies and the elections must be organized by the election committees at the constituencies.

NEC, on Thursday, also decided that all things being equal, its National Executive Officers will be elected on December 19, 2009 and that the election of all regional party officers across the country should be held simultaneously on December 7 in all the 10 regions. The party’s constitution requires that the December 19 elections would be preceded by the election of regional, constituency, and polling station executives nationwide. The compilation of albums for the party’s electoral colleges from the various polling stations is underway and it is after completion that the constituency elections would be held.

The December 19 date brings an end to the four-year tenure of the NPP current National Executive, headed by Chairman Peter Mac Manu, who has promised to hang his gloves and bid farewell to the position. Already, the polling station elections have been completed in a majority of the 230 constituencies and the process has been generally successful despite the isolated cases of petty misunderstandings. The jostling for national executive positions in the party has intensified as reports say the national chairmanship race is likely to be the keenest.

The six persons that have so far expressed interest in contesting the national chairmanship position include former Vice Chairman Stephen Ntim; former Greater Accra Chairman and Minister of Tourism and Diasporan Relations, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey; current Greater Accra Chairman Sammy Crabbe; former Majority Leader Felix Owusu Adjapong; and former Chief Executive of the Ghana @50 Secretariat, Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby.

Though the incumbent General-Secretary, Nana Ohene Ntow, is seeking a renewal of his four-year mandate, his position is being challenged by former Berekum MP, Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey while former Presidential Spokesperson, Kwabena Agyepong, is also reported to have expressed interest in contesting the position.

It is not yet certain whether Lord Commey, the incumbent National Organizer, would seek re-election, but former Central Regional Minister Isaac Edumaze and former MP for Wenchi, Alhaji Moctar Bamba, have openly declared their intentions to contest the position. Again, former Works and Housing Minister, Alhaji Boniface Saddique, is reported to be eyeing the national organizer position.

For the position of Women’s Organizer, Daily Guide is informed that the incumbent Rita Asobayire; Christine Churcher, former MP for Cape Coast; Freda Prempeh, Assembly woman for Laako Electoral Area; Susan Mensah, former aspirant for the same position; and Otiko Djaba, defeated NPP parliamentary candidate for Bole Constituency, are rubbing shoulders.

Multibillionaire and former MP for Asuogyaman, Kofi Osei Ameyaw, has expressed interest in becoming the party’s National Terasurer a position currently being occupied by Gifty Ama Aryeh, popularly called Daavi Ama