NPP Youth Threaten Kufuor?s Nephew

Some youth of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Effutu Constituency in the Central Region have threatened mayhem. Why?

The youth claim a contestant for the party?s parliamentary primaries for the constituency, one Ernest Kwaku Yamoah Kufuor, who is a nephew of the President, is not eligible to contest the March 13, 2004 primaries.

The youth maintain that the president?s nephew does not satisfy all requirements as spelt out by the party?s constitution in his bid for the Effutu seat, let alone to be touted as the likely candidate to pick up the slot.

But Mr. Ernest Kufuor has called the bluff of the youth saying ?they are fighting for people who by their panic behavior have already conceded defeat since I declared my intentions to contest the Effutu seat.?

The Independent however established that Mr. Yamoah was born to Madam Araba Yamoah, an indigene of Winneba, the biggest town in the Effutu Constituency and Nana Antwi Adjei, obviously, a relation of the President.

Other contestants for the Effutu seat are Dr. Oheneba Acheampong and Kwesi Nana Sawyerr.

Yet the youth are not the least deterred by what they consider the arrogant posture of the prospective candidate because in their estimation, their action is backed by a provision in the NPP Constitution that clearly interpret who is eligible to stand for the sort of primaries the party has on its hands in the Effutu Constituency.

The concern, according to them, is further bolstered by the 1992 Constitution, which states that anybody wishing to contest any election in any constituency should have lived in that constituency for a continuous period of five years irrespective of whether it was in his childhood or adulthood.

According to youth, any party member wishing to stand for elections on the party?s ticket is supposed to be a ?a registered member and voter in the constituency which he or she seeks to represent, provided that in appropriate cases the constituency executive, the Regional Executive Committee may dispense with this requirement.?

The said, the NPP Constitution states that it is the obligation of the member seeking nomination to satisfy the Constituency Executive, the Regional Executive Committee and the National Executive Committee on certain conditions. The party constitution stipulates in Article 11 Clause 4 that anyone who wishes to contest for any position in the party must be an active for not less than 2 years and must be registered as a voter in the constituency he wishes to represent.

?Do we need a legal luminary to interpret this simple constitutional provision to us,? they youth fumed and insisted that Mr. Kufuor does not satisfy that clause. The party youth insisted that the constituency executives should have sated on Mr. Kufuor?s nomination form that he does not satisfy the requirement. But the executives replied that, they stated that verbally during the vetting at Cape Coast on September 7, 2003. The constituency executives further stated that Mr. Kufuor said he has been an active member of the South African branch of he party.

The regional executives of the NPP asked Mr. Kufuor for proof of that but he has not been able to provide it. Consequently, the youth, including some of the party?s activist in the Effutu constituency, have threatened to go to court to seek an injunction on the party to restrain the Effutu branch of the NPP from allowing Mr. Kufuor to contest he primaries.

The youth also warned the party hierarchy not to make any attempt to impose the said Mr. Kufuor on the Effutu constituency.

?Any attempt in that ?, the youth contend ?will see the party losing an unprecedented fourth time,? although in the estimate of the aggrieved party, ?the chances are so bright for the NPP to capture the Effutu seat.?