As expected of any election, tension has heightened within the ranks and file of the New Patriotic Party ahead of the November 4 National Delegates Conferences to elect its flagbearer for the 2024 general elections.
The outcome of the November 4 National Delegates Conference is very consequential in the party’s quest to break the eight-year jinx that has characterized the country’s electoral politics.
Some of the key stalwarts in the party including Members of Parliaments and Ministers of State, who have made a public declaration to support Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia believe the Vice President is the party’s biggest shot as he holds the triumph card to the party’s victory in 2024 general elections.
Meanwhile, the Assin Central Member of Parliament on the other hand believes that the New Patriotic Party’s electoral victories are closely tied to his presence and efforts.
“Without me, the NPP can’t win elections. Do you know how many people are begging me? You know, the money that they’ve offered me to step down? If I step down, we will lose. With the sacrifices the party people have made, I cannot selfishly take that amount of money and leave them to their fate”.
Kennedy Ohene Agyapong
The tension particularly between the Vice President and the Assin Central Member of Parliament has increased over the past week when the second lady, Samira Bawumia joined the campaign train and called on delegates to reject bitter and angry candidates.
She accused the Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong as a ‘bitter and angry person who does not think about the party, except himself’.
In response, Ralph Agyapong, lawyer and brother of the Assin Central Member of Parliament accused the second lady of living an opulent lifestyle at the expense of the ordinary polling station delegates who struggle daily and often rely on Mr. Kennedy Agyapong for assistance.
The Sagnarigu Showdown, The Last Straw That Broke The Camel
Over the weekend, there was a near chaos between the Assin Central Member of Parliament and Presidential Aspirant Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, and NPP Constituency Chairman for Sagnarigu, Alhaji Dagoma, and his delegates during a meeting in Tamale.
As part of Mr Kennedy Agyapong’s tour of the Northern Region, he met with Sagnarigu and Tamale North constituency delegates in Tamale in which he alleged that the Constituency Chairmen in the party were offered GHs 100,000 each to vote in a particular direction during the special delegate conference.
This allegation did not sit well with the Sagnarigu Chairman who debunked the claims of Mr. Kennedy Agyapong and told the delegates gathered that the presidential aspirant was peddling outright lies.
“The man is telling lies. He is lying. I am the Chairman of the constituency. I voted in the super delegates’ conference and nobody gave me GHs 100,000 to vote. I will not accept such lies from somebody who wants to lead this party”
Alhaji Dagoma
The response by the Sagnarigu Constituency Chairman according to reports generated some confrontations among supporters of Mr Kennedy Agyapong and some of the delegates.
Following the events, the National Council of Elders of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on all Presidential Aspirants of the Party to ensure a peaceful election on November 4, 2023, by abiding by the guidelines set out by the Party’s Elections Committee.
The National Council of Elders of the party further urged all delegates to be law-abiding on Election Day and for the remaining period left for campaigning, asking them to desist from intimidations and hostile confrontations.
It is clear that the New Patriotic nightmare in breaking the ‘8’ is not only the resignation of its four times presidential aspirant and former Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen but the divisive rancor that has characterized its November 4 presidential primaries.
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