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11.11.2008 Editorial

Bekwai youth must behave well

By
Bekwai youth must behave well
11.11.2008 LISTEN

For the past five months, Bekwai, a town in the Ashanti region has always been in the news. The Youth and some leading NPP members in the town have held series of demonstrations against what they consider as an imposition of a parliamentary candidate on them by the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Some of these demonstrations ended with casualties because the police met them boot for boot. The youth claim Hon. Poku Adusei, the Member of Parliament for the area has not performed creditably to merit another term, and that they do not want him to represent them in parliament again.

They are supporting Mr. Joe Osei Wusu, the former Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) boss who is contesting the seat as an independent candidate, after losing the primary to the incumbent. The constitution of Ghana has made provisions for freedom of choice and association among others, therefore if the youth and the people of Bekwai say they prefer Osei Wusu to Poku Adusei, nobody can fault them for that.

The Chronicle is, however, appalled at the unnecessary tension they are creating in the area in their attempt to ensure that their favourite candidate, Joe Osei Wusu wins the Bekwai seat. They seem to have taken the leadership of NPP hostage and subjecting them to all forms of intimidations. On Monday we carried yet another demonstration embarked upon by the youth of Bekwai where they issued all forms of threats to leaders of the NPP and its flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo.

They were threatening to vote against the NPP flagbearer if he dared come to the town to hold a rally and declare Hon. Poku Adusei as the NPP parliamentary candidate for the area. NPP as a party have their own constitution that governs its operations. Some provisions in the constitution explicitly state that anyone who is democratically elected at the party's primary at the constituency level is the officially recognised candidate of the party.

With this in mind, it would be untenable for the Bekwai youth to expect Nana Addo and the leadership of NPP to support Joe Osei Wusu, who seems to have flouted the constitution of the party by going independent. Bekwai youth, most of whom we believe are well educated must know that their actions against Nana Addo and NPP leadership are a threat to our infant democracy.

If they do not want Poku Adusei then they should use their thumb to reject him and stop the unnecessary threats to the party, which would not be in the interest of the country. Hitherto, Bekwai was known to be a peaceful town but the youth are gradually soiling the town's hard earned reputation just because of one independent candidate's ambitions. This must not be allowed to happen and we call on the youth and those behind their actions to change for the better.

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