NPP Parliamentary Primaries: Asenso-Boakye’s morning devotion with ‘delegates’ is not camping - Evans Nimako

The Director of Elections and Research for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Evans Nimako, has said that there is nothing wrong with the incumbent MP for Bantama, Francis Asenso-Boakye, going to church with some people on the morning of the parliamentary primaries.

According to him, this does not amount to camping delegates, which is prohibited by the party's rules and regulations.

This comes after the incumbent MP for Bantama, Francis Asenso-Boakye, together with a group of people were reportedly gathered for a morning devotion before the voting commenced.

Although GhanaWeb cannot confirm if the people who accompanied the MP to church were delegates, the MP was accused of using the morning devotion as a means to camp the delegates ahead of the elections.

Speaking on Joy News on January 27, 2024, the director of elections noted that, although the party frowns on the idea of camping delegates before the election, going to church with people on the morning of an election is not considered camping.

To him, Asenso-Boakye was only exercising his religious faith, which is an integral part of the party's culture and values.

“I've heard that there have been church services, prayer meetings being conducted all over. We have to be realistic. We in the NPP have always maintained that the battle is the lords. You can decide to run away from it but for us, we count it as a very important aspect in this whole enterprise. And you cannot take politics and remove religion out of it.

“We are very firm on the directive that no aspirant should camp delegates. If you get reports from any constituency the camping has occurred, petition the party and necessary actions will be taken. In the meantime, I won't take the morning devotion as camping” he stated.

He also said that it was important that all stakeholders in the parliamentary primaries follow the laid down rules for the elections, and report any issues to the party's leadership or the police.

“The party has been very firm about this and the general secretary has also issued a 32-paragraph protocol that needs to be observed by all stakeholders. No one can take their hands into their own hands and if there are issues, you report to the police.

“Regional executives are not delegates to this conference as well as national executives. So, for each of these centres where conferences are ongoing, there are regional representatives as well as national representatives. We’ve told them that if you feel that there are any infractions, you better report to the leadership of the party,” he added.

NW/BB