Politics

‘Reconstitute polling station c’ttee’

The coalition of concerned New Patriotic Party (NPP) members in the Sunyani East Constituency has suggested to the national executives to reconstitute Polling Station and Electoral Area Committees to enable them organise polling station executive and electoral area elections in the constituency. 

The Polling Stations and Electoral Area coordinators election of the party will be held across the country from March 5 to 19, 2022. 

The current composition,  the coalition noted,  could not deliver transparent, fair and unbiased elections due to inclusion of the Sunyani Municipal Chief Executive, Ansu Kumi and Kate Agyare as members of the committee. 

They observed that the appointment of Mr Kumi, as the chairman of the committee to supervise the election, was problematic as he had an interest and could not be seen to be neutral in the election.

When contacted to give his version on the issues, Mr Kumi denied all the allegations levelled against him by the coalition saying “it is a figment of their own imagination since the National Executives of the party decided on modalities to use in organising elections for polling station and electoral area coordinators at constituency levels and nothing has changed”. 

The coalition alleged that Mr Kumi was a protégé of the current Member of Parliament (MP) for Sunyani East Constituency in the Bono Region, Akwasi Ameyaw Cheremeh and it would be in the interest of peace and unity within the NPP for him to step aside for harmony to prevail.

At a media briefing in Sunyani on Tuesday, Moses Osei Tutu, spokesperson for the coalition, explained that Mr Cheremeh had representation on the polling station and electoral area committee which constituted a double slot which they described as unacceptable and possibility for Mr Kumi to work in favour of Mr Cheremeh was high. 

He called for withdrawal of Ms Agyare, who had been appointed onto the committee as an elderly woman does not qualify and must be replaced and insisted that “per the party constitution, an elderly woman must be someone above 65 years and per our checks Ms Agyare is 45 years making it impossible for her to be included. 

“Again we expect the committee to avoid any form of biased whatsoever, there should be equal platforms to all prospective aspirants and members of the party who wish to take part in the exercise and anybody interested must be allowed to freely without intimidation participate in the election,” Mr Tutu decried. 

However, Mr Kumi explained that those “crying wolf when there was none” are disgruntled elements within the party whose motivation was to foment trouble within the party for their own selfish interests. 

“They knew they do not stand the chance of making any impact in the election hence preparing the minds of their supporters should the election does not go in their favour, I remain focus on my role as representative of the president in achieving the mandate of the government,” Mr Kumi intimated. 

Efforts to also contact Ms Agyare was to no avail

FROM THE DANIEL DZIRASAH, SUNYANI

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