Director of Elections and Research for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Evans Nimako, has advised the committee responsible for polling station executive forms to ensure eligible members are not denied access to procure forms.
According to him, the party has tasked the elections committee to ensure that prospective aspirants are not denied as stated clearly in the rules that have been given out. He explained that the national chairman of the party, Mr Freddy Blay, has equally directed that an extension of timeline should be given due to the issues surrounding the procurement of forms.
“It’s just that we’ve given too much of attention to these areas and that’s why it appears to have escalated. We are conducting this process in almost 38, 622 polling stations and so, some of these few hitches are expected. But we’ve indicated and reiterated overtime, we want the committee to ensure that people who are eligible are not denied access to procure forms to enable them participate in this all-important election. Mind you, the polling station is the basic unit and foundation of the party and it is our expectation that at the end of this exercise, it should be very successful to give us the platform to take off”.
Evans Nimako
His comments follow the chaos which broke out during the distribution of forms for the party’s upcoming polling station elections. Confusion broke out after party members accused executives of giving preferential treatment to their colleagues in the distribution of the forms for the polling station elections.
Purchasing of forms by members
Reacting to the chaos that ensued over the forms, Mr Nimako emphasized that all well-meaning party members must respect and comply with the directive and rules and regulations given per the party’s constitution. He indicated that members should be mindful of the details of the party’s constitution and not act untoward during the process of purchasing forms. Additionally, he revealed that the essence of the meeting and press conference held yesterday which was delivered by the national chairman was to express knowledge of these challenges and expressed the need for national offices to have first access information to development on the matter.
“As we speak, our general secretary is in the Ashanti Region, he’s going to the Bono Region and [will be] on his way to the Northern Region to ensure that the directives given by the national council are complied with to the letter”.
Evans Nimako
Touching on the throng of persons who have made their way to purchasing the forms, Mr Nimako noted that he isn’t surprised at the number as he believes that the party’s rank and file are ready to serve under whatever circumstances to defend the interest of the party. This, he explained, is the reason for the show of enthusiasm from the members who are being given an opportunity to serve “even at the lowest rank” as polling station officers.
“The directive is that the committee must ensure free and fair conduct of the process. So, we are urging the committee that has the mandate of national council, the second highest decision-making body of the party to discharge this honourable duty to the party excellently without hitches”.
Evans Nimako
The NPP Election’s Director intimated that concerning the glitches and misunderstanding encountered at some polling offices, the “party leadership” is delving into the crux of the matter to proffer appropriate solutions to address the situation.
“What we are asking party committees put in place to do is to ensure that nobody is denied access to the form and this is non-negotiable”.
Evans Nimako
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