Two NPP parliamentary candidates for Wa Central

Wa, Sept. 23, GNA - With less than three months to this year's general elections, voters in the Wa Central constituency are getting confused about who is the real New Patriotic Party's (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the constituency.

Mr. Clement Eledi, a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture was recently acclaimed with approval from the National Executive Committee as the parliamentary candidate.

However, another person, Mr. Mohammed A. Kpegla, an employee of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency, has distributed his posters at Wa also claiming to be the parliamentary candidate for the same constituency.

The posters have the caption, "Vote Mohammed A. Kpegla as MP for Wa Central for Unity and Development".

Mr. Eledi has already criss-crossed the constituency with his T-shirts, symbols and other party paraphernalia canvassing for support to win the seat.

Meanwhile, Mr. Abdulai Safana, the Constituency Chairman has observed that some people within the party's hierarchy were using Mr. Kpegla to deepen the long-standing confusion in the constituency in order to hide their real intentions.

Reacting to the latest development in the constituency in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Wa on Wednesday, Mr. Safana called on the National Executive to take disciplinary action against Mr. Kpegla for circumventing party procedures to project himself as parliamentary candidate.

"As far as I am aware, Mr. Kpegla has not filed, vetted or cleared by the national headquarters of the party to enable him offer himself for any constituency primaries."

He said, "It is absolute indiscipline for any party member to seek to enter the parliamentary race on the party's ticket through the back door."

"There is no guarantee that Mr. Kpegla would have passed the test if he had submitted himself for vetting as all parliamentary candidates of the party did," Mr. Safana added.

Mr. Kpegla told the GNA that he printed his posters in anticipation of his victory at the constituency's primaries, which according to him would be held soon.

"The National Chairman at the delegates congress of the party held in Kumasi last week promised to set up a committee to look into the constituencies with problems," he said.

He emphasised that he had filed his nomination papers through the constituency executives to contest Mr. Eledi at the constituency primary.

As to whether he has been vetted, he said, "Vetting has different forms, shapes and dimensions. Information given on the nomination papers constitute vetting so people should not think that I am being used to destroy the party."

Mr. Kpegla who is the son of the late B.K. Adama, said, "I will be the last to be used to destroy what my father and others have used years to build. At the appropriate time I will come out public to answer my critics."

On his part, Mr. Eledi in a telephone interview, said he was the only qualified NPP candidate for the constituency whom the voters should deal with.

Mr. Eledi was declared sole candidate at the close of nominations by the National Executive and recently acclaimed by the constituency as the parliamentary candidate.

A few days later, a faction led by the Regional Chairman organised a counter primary and declared Mr. Kpegla as their candidate.