Exposed!
*MP Aspirants
Todayhas
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’shounds 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.”
Pix: Nii Allottey Brew-Hammond, PPP
National Chairman
