Don’t Vote Skirt And Blouse – Bono NPP Communication Director

The Bono Regional NPP Director of Communications, Asare-Bediako Seth, is making a passionate appeal to all the electorate, especially those touched by the good works of the Nana Akufo-Addo led government to vote massively for the NPP in both the presidential and parliamentary contests come December 7.

He has therefore sounded a word of caution to members and sympathizers of the NPP in Bono Region and other parts of the country to avoid what he described as “plausible tendency of voting skirt-and-blouse in the upcoming Presidential and Parliamentary elections.”

Skirt-and-blouse is a political catchphrase which depicts a situation where a particular political party wins the presidential election and another party wins the parliamentary in a constituency.

This usually arises out of various reasons ranging from strained relations, disaffection, apathy, hatred and resentment among others which are sometimes not well addressed by the party leadership.

This, Mr. Asare-Bediako Seth, popularly called ABS, in a Statement issued in Sunyani, stressed the need for the electorate to vote massively for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and all NPP parliamentary candidates.

“We have the benefit of history to guide us in our reasoning and justification for the current President of the Republic of Ghana to serve his second term with a good and convincing majority of legislators in the Parliament of Ghana in order not to thwart and frustrate the implementation of the President's novel and flagship development programs and policies," he said.

President against ‘skirt & blouse’

According to him, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated in clear terms that, he does not endorse the Parliamentary bid of Independent Candidates, therefore, it will be politically unwise for anyone who supports the President's second term agenda to vote for a Parliamentary Candidate who is not recognized by the President, and whose sole pre-occupation in Parliament will be to undermine the programs and Bills of the government that require Parliamentary ratification.

He opined that, reference ought to be made to the catastrophe, sheer partisanship and unbridled antagonism which characterized the Hilla Limann regime, indicating that his political party had a minority in Parliament.

He said queuing to vote for an opposition or Independent Parliamentary Candidate has damming consequences for the future of strategic development policies and interventions the NPP has initiated such as the Free SHS, One District One Factory (1D1F), One Village One Dam (1V1D), the Zongo Development Fund (ZDF), NABCO and others.

The Bono NPP Communications Director further said the intention of every prospective Parliamentarian is to lobby the government of the day in order to draw its attention to the development challenges in their respective Constituencies and in situations where the President publicly denounces the Parliamentary bid of any such candidates, it stands to reason that no audience whatsoever will be granted such an aspirant by the ruling government, should they even sail through the elections.

“It's in the interest of progressive development and smooth Parliamentary democracy for us to massively endorse the sitting President and all the 275 Parliamentary aspirants of the ruling NPP in order to push further the unprecedented development initiatives of the New Patriotic Party as we seek a second term in office,” he added.

According to him, supporters must be reminded that the entire membership and operations of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are governed by laws which are enshrined in the party's Constitution.

“Article 3 (9) of the party's Constitution is very categorical on the forfeiture of membership. Therefore, on the strength of our party's Constitution any member who contests the upcoming general elections as an Independent candidate, or their hosts of supporters drawn from our party will all be subjected to the spirit and letter of the party's Constitution, Independent Candidates have forfeited their membership of the party, and are only out there contesting on their own volition and with the ulterior motive of breaking our front.”

He urges all members to desist from supporting, let alone voting for individuals who don't ascribe to the tenets of partisan democracy and the regard for internal party structures. “A vote for an opposition or Independent Candidate is a vote for antagonism, retrogression and under-development.”