A Legal Team Member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abraham Amaliba, has offered some advice to the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), on how to deal with a Member of Parliament who has decided to contest the 2020 parliamentary election as an independent candidate.
He said though, the NPP has the right to expunge from the party any MP who run as an independent candidate; the party should rather use such candidates to campaign for more votes.
His comment was in reaction to the call by General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu, on MP for the Fomena Constituency in the Ashanti Region, Andrew Amoako Asiamah, who has decided to contest the 2020 parliamentary election as an independent candidate to vacate from Parliament.
Mr. John Boadu in a statement on October 13, 2020, said by going as an independent candidate, Mr. Asiamah has forfeited his membership of the party per Article 3(9) of the party’s constitution.
He also referred to Article 97(1) (g) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana which states that an MP shall vacate his seat in Parliament if he leaves the party of which he was a member at the time of his election to Parliament join another party or seeks to remain in Parliament as an independent member.
But speaking on A1 Radio’s Zina Yela program, Mr. Amaliba said the NPP as a party could make good use of the independent candidate by taking steps to involve them in the party’s campaign ahead of the general elections; rather than disowning them.
“Politics is about building unity and peace and not forcing people to do what is not good for them.” He added.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHZ|Moses Apiah/Ghana
