NPP UK election was sham; three candidates livid

A UK branch election to test the popularity of the seven presidential candidates vying for the flagbearership slot of the New Patriotic Party has thrown the party further apart.

Three of the candidates Alan Kyeremanten, Francis Adai Nimoh and Osei Ameyaw have unanimously bastardised the poll which overwhelmingly tilted in favour of two-time presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo.

Akufo-Addo polled 90 per cent of the vote, with Alan Kyeremanten trailing with a meager five per cent  and the others sharing the remaining five.

Three of the seven candidates have questioned not the just the results of the poll but the motive in organising such an election.

Francis Addai Nimoh told Joy News he had no knowledge of any such poll. He did not understand why as presidential candidate he was not consulted before the elections were held.

Osei Ameyaw is undoubtedly convinced the poll was flawed and served no other purpose than that of propaganda.

Spokesperson for Alan Kojo Kyerementen was harsher in his criticism of the poll.

Nana Ohene Ntow said the “election lacks merit; completely unconstitutional improper and unacceptable.”

“Short of its propagandist value, it is a complete nuisance,” Ohene Ntow fired and wondered why the NPP UK Branch will act like that.

He said the UK Branch has only three votes in the August Super Delegates Congress that will prune down the total number of candidates from seven to five and has 12 votes in the congress that would finally elect the presidential candidate.

He said if the UK Branch had only 12 votes, on what basis did it conduct an internal election out of which one candidate polled 90 per cent with others polling ten per cent.

“What they have done is unconstitutional” he said adding, “they have created unnecessary confusion in the party.”

The UK Branch is however unfazed by the criticisms.

The General Secretary Dr John Kissi said the power and authority to organize the poll was taken from the branch executives in UK and did not require permission from the national executives or from the candidates involved.

He explained when delegates are selected to vote on behalf of the UK Branch of the party, those delegates not necessarily to make their own choice. Rather they vote for the collective interest and choice of the Branch.

He said the elections that were held yesterday in UK were to test the popularity of the candidates and to inform the final delegates on the preferred choice of candidate by the branch.

When he was asked if this was a novelty, he partly answered in the affirmative saying, in the past it was only the branch executives who were made to vote ahead of such internal elections.

He said on this occasion, they decided to enlarge the voting pattern to include the larger branch members.

He said they wanted the elections to be open and participatory.

Nana Ohene Ntow was not convinced by the explanations of Dr Kissi.

He said the procedures in the party are “uniform and universal” and the NPP UK Branch cannot arrogate new procedures onto itself.

It's a complete sham; and a serious party like the NPP should not entertain this, he charged.

Ohene Ntow said there is increasingly too much arbitrariness in the party and that calls for worry.

He implored the national executives to take action on the matter.