NPP Members who preached skirt and blouse in 2020 elections should be disqualified – Charles Bissue

The Western Regional Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Charles Bissue, has said all members of the NPP who worked against the party whether through overt or covert means, leading to a drop in the NPP’s numbers in Parliament in the 2020 elections should be barred from contesting in the party’s internal polls.

He said on the Key Points on TV3/3FM with host Dzifa Bampoh on Saturday February 26 that the party’s constitution is clear that no member should work against the party.

“There are grievance procedures the party will go through but if you sit there and you say because you hate this person, [you] will not allow him, [you] are going to lie against him, you are automatically working against the party itself and there are rules, the party’s constitution says you should promote and project the image of the party. This is somebody who is in the party and you maliciously go and lie against the party.”

Asked how they are going to identify persons who worked against the party, he answered “Within the community there are people in there that can come and point out.”

For his part, the Director of the Centre for European Studies at the University of Ghana, Dr Kwame Asah-Asante, asked the NPP to ensure a level playing field for its internal polls.

In his view, giving equal opportunities to all will deal with the situation of acrimony and bitterness.

“There should be the political environment which is equal to all,” he said on the Key Points on TV3/3FM with host Dzifa Bampoh.

He also called for the rules of engagement to be applied to all.

“We need the rules, once you don’t have the rules then anybody wants to do anything,” he said, adding that “They need strong sanction regime and who ever is caught should be dealt with,” he said.

The NPP is preparing to elect its polling station executives as part of preparations towards the 2024 elections.

The exercise has been characterized by some agitations especially regarding the sale of the forms in parts of the country.

At a news conference in Accra, the National Chairman Freddie Blay directed all committees in the various polling station to make sure all interested aspirants had access to the forms to prevent chaos reported from the constituencies.

Mr Blay said “First and foremost, the process of election of Polling Station Executives commenced from Saturday, February 19, 2022 with Opening of Nominations and Closing on Monday, February 21, 2022. Per an earlier release by the General Secretary, vetting of prospective aspirants will be from Tuesday, February 22, 2022 and ends on Thursday, February 24, 2022. Subsequent to this will be the conduct of the Polling Station Election from Friday, February 25, 2022 and ends on Saturday, March 5, 2022.

“The Party has been monitoring this process keenly since it stated. Notwithstanding all the adequate preparations to ensure a smooth process in this election, there has been reports of pockets of incidence happening in some of the constituencies. A few are Kade Constituency, Manhyia North, Bosome Freho, Ninmgo Prampram amongst others.

“The party wish to emphasize that it has made available, adequate nominations forms to the Polling Stations/ Electoral Area Elections Committees, which are the mandated Committees for the conduct of the Polling Stations and Electoral Areas Elections in the 38,622 Polling Stations across the country.

“The National Leadership of the Party, is per this press conference, directing all Polling Stations/ Electoral Area Elections Committees to make available the application forms to all eligible party members who wish to partake in this polling station elections. It is also assuring all eligible members that the party will take steps to ensure that application forms are made available to them.

“With immediate effect, the party is also dispatching officers to reported areas of disturbances for fact-finding and investigations, and where necessary, disciplinary sanctions will be applied.

“Further to this, it is also reported that some leading personalities have procured application forms for aspiring polling station executives. The party wish to advise that any such matters relating to financial support in this process must be channeled through the National Party Secretariat for uniformity, fairness and accountability.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the Press, on this note, the National Party has decided to extend the sale of the Polling Station Application Forms by one day, that is, tomorrow, Tuesday, February 22, 2022. It is also by this press conference directing all Polling Station and Electoral Area Elections Committees to comply with the new extension.”