Tempane: NPP Constituency executives fight NPP group demanding DCE removal

The Constituency Executives of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NDC) in the Tempane constituency of the Upper East Region have distanced themselves from a petition written by a group calling itself, Youth Patriots demanding the removal of Hon. Paul Azumah Abugre, the District Chief Executive for the area.

The group petitioned President Akufo Addo to consider their request alleging that the DCE played a role in the defeat of Hon. Joseph Dindiok Kpemka in the just-ended presidential and parliamentary elections.

Reacting to the group's petition, Ibrahim Jambeidu, the constituency organizer of the NPP and convener of the press conference said the group is not recognised in the constituency.

He is asking the public and President Akufo-Addo to disregard the petition.

Below is full of the press statement:

RE-PETITION FOR THE REMOVAL FROM OFFICE, THE DISTRICT CHIEF EXECUTIVE

FOR TEMPANE DISTRICT- HON. PAUL AZUMAH ABUGRI

Party Elders, Constituency Executives, Electoral Area Coordinators, Polling Station Executives, Friends of Kpemka, Youth for Kpemka, Osonoma Group, Party Supporters, The Media, Ladies and Gentlemen we express our gratitude to you for your swift response to our call on the subject matter above.

On behalf of the Constituency Executives and the Electoral Area Coordinators of the Tempane Constituency, we want to state unequivocally without any fear of contradiction that we the Constituency Executive Hierarchy with all the Subsidiary. Arms have no fore knowledge about the said petition as claimed by the petitioners.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media, our thorough investigation after the release of the so-called petition revealed that such group superimposing themselves to be known as Youth Patriots do not actually exist. And no form of consultation whatsoever has been carried out with the Party Executives before such press release. It is with much regret to mention that peoples’ whose names were listed to be part of the petition denied with disdain as being associated with such ‘ungodly act’ when they were called. The Constituency Executives wish to use this medium to call on all well-meaning individuals whose names have been wrongfully included to the list of petitioners to do the needful by officially disassociated themselves using the Party’s Grievance Redress Procedures at the constituency level.

The Media present, Ladies and Gentlemen, as Constituency Executives we want to urge all party supporters and well-meaning Ghanaians to disregard the above publications and treat it with the greatest contempt it deserves.

The Member of Parliament, The District Chief Executive, The Deputy CEO of Youth Employment Agency, The Deputy CEO of Northern Development Authority, Party Executives and other Party Supporters in the Constituency were seen campaigning together peacefully and it is never true that the District Chief Executive is the cause of the Member of Parliament’s defeat in the Tempane Constituency. Indeed, the Constituency is in the process of setting the stage to conduct a post-election diagnostic survey to unravel at the issues that led to our failure to retain the seat in the just ended election. Suffice it to say that this faceless group of individuals, unfortunately, are acting at variance to the burning issues that confront the Party on its path to squarely deal with the issue at hand.

We the Executives will not sit back and allow the hard earned reputation of the Hon. District Chief Executive of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Constituency to be dragged in the mud.

The Executives wish to respond to some of the false allegations raised by the petitioners;

1. The claim that The District Chief Executive is not accessible to the constituents is completely out of context. This is not true because the DCE stays at his residence in Kugrago where he continuously engages constituents and also holds series of meetings at his residence to project the image of the Party in the Constituency. In fact, he is one of the DCEs.

The DCE should not be blamed for issues that he is not aware of in the Constituency. They did not heed to the Party directives and went ahead to contest including the petitioner and eventually all of them lost to the NDC Candidates in the last District Assembly Elections.

5. The DCE do not also control the disbursement of funds for the GetFund Scholarship since the application was done online and qualified candidates were only interviewed and selected at the Assembly level. In fact, the Hon DCE had little to no influence if someone’s name was not short listed for the interviews. This debunked the claim that he did nothing to support Party Members during the said process.

6. The petitioners do not even know that the common fund is not meant for party people but rather the general development of the district thereby exposing their ignorance.

7. We wish to also state that the resources and logistics meant for the campaign was channelled through the Parliamentary Candidate and the Party in the Constituency, not the DCE as claimed by the petitioners.

8. The accession that the DCE lost his Polling Station is surprising because we performed poorly in almost all the Ninety-Eight (98) Polling Stations which all concerned NPP members should have been more worried in finding out the real cause of our abysmal performance.

In conclusion, all the petitioners’ claims are false, baseless, unfounded, and needless at this critical moment. We wish to call on the faceless individuals behind this unnecessary petition to come out boldly and provide clear evidence for their claims or forever remain silence.

We thank the Media and all-Party supporters for their time. United we stand divided we fall.

God bless Tempane constituency,

God bless NPP and make it great and strong.

Presented by Ibrahim Jambeidu (Constituency Organizer) on behalf of the constituency executives,

0249126753.

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