Claims that the National Democratic Congress in the Ashanti Region attempted to remove Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, the party’s representative for Asawase, have been refuted.
During the party’s primaries, the former Minority Chief Whip claimed that party leaders were plotting to have him removed from the Asawase constituency.
Muntaka claims that some members of the party’s leadership have been attempting to remove him from Parliament for some time but have been ineffective.
However, Captain (Rtd) John Kwame Jabari stated that the delegates had the authority to determine whether a candidate must be chosen or not. He continued by saying that it is not the role of the party to disqualify legitimate candidates from running in order to support the rival.
“We thought Asawase primary was going to be close but the golden boy of Asawase, Muntaka came out victorious once again. We couldn’t have sided with any of them, we wanted the elections to be free and fair and that is exactly what happened. The former national chairman of the party had a challenger, our flagbearer John Dramani Mahama was also contested.
“So if someone wants to contest an MP, what can we do about it? Anyone who wanted to contest and passed the rules and regulations was allowed and that was something for the delegates to decide. I can’t say that as a region, we masterminded and wanted him to lose, that is not possible, we won’t allow that. As a region, there was no intention of that.”
Captain (RTD) John Kwame Jabari
Days after the party’s primary elections, Mohammed Muntaka told reporters that the recent change in the Minority Leadership of Parliament, was a part of the larger plan.
“I can tell you, it was part of the strategy to get me out. No political person won’t say that wasn’t part of the strategy to get me out. Avedzi wasn’t contesting again, Haruna didn’t have any contenders, and I was the only one who had a contender, so to have done that at that time was part of the strategy to get me out.
“But like I keep saying, God is not their village Chief, God doesn’t hate people because you hate them.”
Muntaka Mohammed
For the Asawase constituency parliamentary campaign, Masawudu Mubarick presented a strong challenge to Muntaka. However, he won with 1,063 of the total valid votes cast, while his primary rival Masawudu Mubarick finished in second place with 735 votes.
Party Urges OSP To Leave ‘Cash Spraying MP’ Alone
Dr. Frank Amoakohene, the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) urged the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to concentrate its efforts on pressing national corruption issues, rather than exploiting internal party disputes as a diversion.
This follows the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s invitation of a defeated candidate for the NDC’s Parliamentary and Presidential primaries, who was caught on camera throwing cash during the just-concluded Presidential and Parliamentary primaries.
However, the NDC regional executives electronically met with Juliana Kinang-Wassan, the unsuccessful candidate. The party’s leadership was interested in learning the motivation behind the former candidate’s actions on that particular day.
Additionally, Dr. Amoakohene insisted that the Special Prosecutor’s office must stop interfering in internal party disputes and focus instead on matters of great national importance, such as the Galamsey Report by Professor Frimpong-Boateng and the most recent Gold Mafia documentary by media outlet, Al Jazeera Network.
“After having a meeting with Juliana Kinang-Wassan, we noticed that the Special Prosecutor just wants to be relevant. I want to put it on record that the Special Prosecutor wants to prioritise this minor issue for corruption that is going on, such as Professor Frimpong-Boateng’s report, the Al jazeera’s gold mafia report, and you want to prioritise this against that?
“It’s like the Special Prosecutor doesn’t know what he’s about. He saw that something was trending and decided to jump onto it. What happened in the space of the elections was nothing to worry about. That was not the promise for the elections. The manner in which the money was sprayed, doesn’t speak well but if you take your time and listen to the event that preceded what occurred, you will understand that the candidate cannot be faulted.”
Dr. Frank Amoakohene
He also urged the OSP to focus less on the insignificant matter involving NDC and more on crimes that begged for prosecution. “The OSP should use the taxpayers’ money to investigate high-profile corruption cases,” Dr. Amoakohene said.
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