Director of elections for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Evans Nimako, has revealed that the party is determined to ensure the number of aspirants contesting for the flagbearership position is trimmed down to five in anticipation for the November 4 elections, following the tie between Boakye Agyarko and Francis Addai-Nimoh.
According to him, the NPP is resolute in looking into the future with lots of prospects after the internal elections. He indicated that the committee put together by the National Council will submit its report and the needed direction will be given by the Council.
Mr Nimako highlighted that in the event of a tie, as it is the case, there’ll be a run-off to break the tie. In light of this, he assured that the party will meet today to discuss the whole exercise of Saturday and come out with its report.
“For us as New Patriotic Party, a win for one is a win for all. The party’s arrangement to conduct special electoral college to trim down the number to five and continue to November for the final primaries is on course. It’s been very successful because the committee engaged constructively with all the stakeholders i.e., presidential aspirants, their agents, Electoral Commission, Ghana Police Service, and largely the party’s rank and file. The media also gave us the coverage that enabled the world to see how the New Patriotic Party is conducting its internal process of selecting the presidential aspirant…”
Evans Nimako
Commenting on the displinary action taken against Kennedy Agyapong, Hopeson Adoeye and three others following Saturday’s super delegates conference, Mr Nimako stated that the party prior to the election, put together guidelines and rules and regulations to ensure compliance, free, fair conduct of the whole exercise.
Additionally, he noted that the NPP equally put together the code of conduct committee and at all times, any party person who felt aggrieved had the platform to submit his or her concerns. As such, he explained that there has been an invitation for the individuals to appear before the committee, insisting it will largely be an internal interrogation.
“In the midst of elections, some levels of disagreements easily occur, the onus is still on the individual to submit concerns for consideration. What the party does is, the party is ready to go into it and find amicable solutions, and it is the reason why the general secretary is extending invitation to these gentlemen to appear before the disciplinary committee for further interrogation…”
Evans Nimako
Disciplinary committee to address matters internally
Regarding the terms of reference for the committee in such matters, the NPP director of elections stated that the party set up its code of conduct committee when the party came out with the code of conduct for internal primaries, for both for the presidential and parliamentary, to handle such occurrences.
Moreover, he indicated that the party when it opened the nomination, also came out with rules and regulations. As such, he explained that the party was guided by the rules and regulations, the guidelines and the party’s constitution, as well as the details of the code of conduct in making its decisions.
“So, it is known to all party members and all stakeholders of things that are expected of them and things that they must not engage themselves in…”
Evans Nimako
On the issue of the North East incident, where Kennedy Agyapong and the communications director for the Alan Kyerematen campaign team, Buaben Asamoah alleged assault of their polling agents, Mr Nimako assured the party’s interest in addressing the issue. He emphasized that the party would give an opportunity to the respective persons to give the party a “complete picture” of what really transpired.
“I did not have the benefit of what transpired, so I’m unable to comment. But the party is taking steps to address these internal challenges that occurred. Let’s give the party the benefit of the doubt to go through it, engage all those who were involved and then find solutions to them. In any case, these are the party’s internal issues…”
Evans Nimako
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