NPP to sanction activists who flirt with Independent candidates

Tapa-Abotoase (V/R), Nov. 26, GNA - Vice President Aliu Mahama on Thursday warned that functionaries of New Patriotic Party (NPP) risked being sanctioned for supporting and providing resources for independent parliamentary candidates who are standing against the party's official candidates.

"We shall discipline such characters. They do not belong to our family", he stressed.

Vice-President Mahama was addressing a rally at Tapa-Abotoase in the Biakoye Constituency of the Volta Region, on the last leg of his three-day tour of the Region.

He urged party activists to alert the party hierarchy about the unpatriotic conduct of any such recalcitrant members no matter their status in the party, because their actions constitute a stab in the back of the party.

Vice-President Mahama's warning stemmed from allegations of tacit support by some leading members of the party in the Region for Mr. Kofi Appiah, an Independent candidate in the Biakoye Constituency against Mr Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa, Volta Regional Minister and NPP parliamentary candidate for the constituency.

He introduced Mr Owusu-Yeboa to the constituents. Vice President Mahama said government was committed to changing the fortunes of the area, pointing to construction works on the Kpando-Worawora-Dambai road network.

He said the NPP government had done what the National Democratic Congress (NDC) failed to do in 20 years including giving meaning to freedom of speech and the rule of law.

The Vice-President asked for the total mandate of the people on December 7, to ensure continuity in the government's development agenda.

Mr Owusu-Yeboa urged his constituents not to send independent candidates to Parliament, as that would defeat the government's development agenda.

Earlier, the Vice President commissioned a 5-billion cedi water facility under the Small Towns Water Project of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) at Nkwanta and a 480 million cedi streetlight project funded by the Jasikan District Assembly at Jasikan.