Today has uncovered subtle and underground plot by some key elements within the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) enticing some of the parliamentary candidates of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) with sums of money and other forms of inducements to drop their MP aspirations.
The move, the paper gathers, has the full backing of the leadership of the ruling party with the understanding that with the PPP candidates out of the way, the NDC would be more at ease combating their number one nemesis, the NPP, without looking out for any possible threat from another opposition party.
Today’s hounds further established that the scheme is being hatched by the NDC to ensure that many of the PPP parliamentary candidates either step down now or after they had filed their nominations, to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections.
In the Greater Accra Region, the scheme is almost hitting a crescendo with the main targets being the Ablekuma Central, South and West; Weija, Dome Kwabenya and many other places in Ashanti, Western and the Northern Regions.
In the Volta Region, the paper discovered that the NDC is not only targeting MP aspirants of the PPP, but also some of the party’s executives.
Some top PPP members are being promised overseas trips as well as catering and paying the school fees of their wards and children. Most of the MP aspirants who are falling to the NDC overtures are people suspected to be planted moles within the PPP.
The party leadership has however hinted that their attention had been drawn to the mole allegation and was quietly and discreetly monitoring the situation.
Probing further, it was established that the NDC move was not only targeted at the PPP’s parliamentary candidates but at some of its constituency and polling station executives. And interestingly enough some district chief executives (DCEs) who have affinity with the NDC have also joined this clandestine move.
In some cases, our investigate team found out that PPP parliamentary candidates who were working in the civil service were threatened that they will lose their jobs if they do not budge to the NDC overtures.
Against this backdrop, a national executive of the PPP who agreed to speak to the paper on condition of anonymity said the party is aware of the secret moves by the NDC to entice its members to their benefit.
This strategy, the PPP officer said, was used against the smaller political parties in the 2008 general elections and it worked.
“…But we are aware of such moves and we will make sure that we fight it from several fronts, national executive affirmed.
According to the PPP officer, they are closely examining their parliamentary candidates, warning that any candidate who is ‘caught falling prey to the NDC inducements will immediately be taken off and be replaced.”
The PPP national executive member went on to stress that the leadership is talking to both its parliamentary candidates and executives at the regional and constituency and urging them to ward off such inducements from the NDC or any political party.
“We are taking this step to ensure that we have genuine, loyal and credible candidates and executives who believe in the ideals of the PPP and area ready to work diligently to make sure that our party wins the December 7 polls,” the PPP national executive told Today.
“We also want to make sure that we have especially solid parliamentary candidates who will contest and win their respective seats.”
