The New Patriotic Party has clarified that its conference held on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, to respond to Alan Kyerematen`s resignation is not tailored to attack his personality but rather to correct certain erroneous statements made in his press conference and also to set the record straight.
According to the party, Mr. Kyerematen’s allegations that the decision by the National Council to have allowed the super delegates conference to be held in a single venue as well as allowed delegates to nominate one person instead of five is unconstitutional, unmeritorious, and therefore strategically and tactically skewed to favor one aspirant can`t be said to be true.
The party explained that “Article 13(1)(1) of the Party’s Constitution states that the date and venue for the presidential primaries shall be decided by the National Council, provided, however, that the National Council may, on appropriate occasion, vary the date”.
“Without doubt, the National Council, the appropriate body mandated by the Party’s Constitution to make a determination on the date and venue, did not violate the Constitution by voting against the proposal for the use of a single venue for the elections”, it added.
The General Secretary of the party, Justin Kodua Frimpong, revealed this at a press conference on Tuesday, September 26, at the party`s headquarters.
He further stated that there is historical precedence, detailing that in 2014, the Special Electoral College elections were held at several venues. At the time, no aspirant, including Mr. Kyerematen, filed a petition regarding the venue.
“The Party’s Constitution further states in Article 13(2) that where there is more than one contestant, each delegate will cast his or her vote by secret ballot for one of the contestants. Therefore, the demand by the petitioners for delegates to vote for five (5) persons instead of one is unconstitutional”, it emphasised
The Party equally disagrees with assertions made by Mr. Kyerematen that ‘‘the Party has been hijacked by a selected group of Party leaders and elders, and government appointees behind the curtain power brokers’’.
“Guided by facts and data, the leadership of the Party disagrees entirely with this assertion. Historically, the selection of flagbearers for political parties in Ghana had been the preserve of a privileged few until the New Patriotic Party took the bold decision to decentralize the process by expanding its electoral college to enfranchise some one hundred and six thousand, five hundred and ninety (106,590) delegates in 2010”.
In responding to Mr. Kyerematen’s allegations of intimidation against his supporters, the party said “It is noteworthy that certain government appointees, including cabinet ministers, who openly declared their support for him are still at post and have never been intimidated”.
It concluded that under the Fourth Republic, both the NPP and the NDC have had some leading members of their party break ranks to either form their own party or join other political parties, yet the mother party remained resilient.
Source:A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHz|Gilbert Azeem Tiroog
