The newly-elected National Youth Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has reacted to vote-buying allegation at the just-ended National Delegates Conference of the party.
Salam Mustapha debunked an assertion that winning elections was about influencing delegates with money but effective, efficient and executing top notch election strategies.
“I shudder to disagree elections are won through vote-buying but on strategy, it is not the money, we have seen incumbent governments losing elections which are thought to be well-resourced,” he insisted.
Mr Mustapha expressed disappointment and disheartening in the injunction that was placed on members of the Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) from voting when the NPP received an injunction stopping its student wing, TESCON and local proxy voters from casting their ballots in the delegates’ conference on July 16 which affected 300 students from voting.
He lamented over the situation when TESCON executives expressed their disappointment over the situation when they issued a statement after the polls announcing withdrawal of their service from the party.
The statement indicated that the leadership of NPP did not recognise them as the intellectual wing as it had always been professed by the party because to bus intellectuals from various regions for them to travel to Accra, risking their lives just to disenfranchise them without any reason was just disheartening.
It cautioned that until they saw the said injunction, person who placed it, reason for it and also give positive assurance to settle their plight as soon as possible, the ambiguity on TESCON Representations during regional and national conferences they would advise themselves accordingly.
The statement noted that allocation of stands were made for all delegates with the exception of TESCON which clearly showed the party did not factor and value them in the planning of the event,” the statement.
But Mr Mustapha contended that to break the eight years of political party rule would take a lot of effort and the youth wing must not be complacent but resolute and focused and was upset and sad because he was expecting lot of votes from TESCON.
He said their calls and shedding of tears broke his heart and pleaded with them to calm down and allow leadership of the party to resolve the situation.
