NPP is becoming lawless; Alan Cash man protests MPs support for Akufo-Addo

A former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party and spokesperson for Alan Kyeremanten one of seven aspirants vying for the position of the flagbearer of the party says the NPP is now becoming lawless.

Nana Ohene Ntow is incensed by the brazen open support for Nana Akufo Addo by Members of Parliament which he said violates the party's own guidelines for the upcoming primaries.

Over 107 Members of Parliament have openly declared support for the twice defeated NPP flagbearer. Some of them, including Deputy Minority Leader, Dominic Nitiwul, Tema West MP Naa Toshi, MP for Old Tafo Akoto Osei were all present and openly campaigned during the official launch of Nana Akufo-Addo's 2016 campaign in Accra.

That singular action has infuriated some of the contestants, including Alan Kojo Kyeremanten.

Nana Ohene Ntwo who speaks for 'Alan Cash' as he is affectionately called, is convinced the Nana Addo campaign is violating the party's guidelines on the elections and has called on the party to take disciplinary action against the MPs who violated the guidelines.

Quoting the appropriate guidelines on Joy FM's Newsnite programme, Ntow said "party officers at all levels as well as MPs shall refrain" from openly supporting or campaigning for any individual candidate ahead of the elections.

He said "gradually there is a situation in the party where people want to be lawless and arbitrary in the face of rules."

He said such lawlessness should not be countenanced by the good people of the party.

When asked if he was going to take the matter up by filing official complaint to the national officers, Nana Ohene Ntow said the issue is already in the public domain and the leaders can take the appropriate action.

But one of the accused persons and MP for Bimbilla Dominic Nitiwul disagrees the MPs have broken any law in the party's constitution.

He said the "MPs will not make rules to break them," adding the guideline which Nana Ntow religiously quoted had been misinterpreted.

He said that particular rule, stops groups from openly declaring support and campaigning for a candidate but allows individuals to  openly support or campaign for a candidate.

So that an MP can go ahead and support a candidate but should not do it in the name of MPs as a group.

He said that same guidelines even allow MPs to support a candidate but not to campaign for him.

He said "MPs have declared support for him (Akufo-Addo); they have not started campaigning."

He challenged Nana Ohene Ntow to take the matter up at the appropriate forum and he will be there to answer the charges leveled against him.

Meanwhile a Political Science Lecturer with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Dr Amoako Baah says the party's rule that prevents MPs from openly supporting and campaigning for candidates is wrong.

He said it is right only when it is regulating the activities of the party officers who are directly involved in running the affairs of the party.