Nullify Western North Regional Secretary, Treasure Elections- NPP Told
Authorities of the ruling New Patriotic Party who saw to the organization of the just-ended regional delegates conference in the Western North Region have been advised to as a matter of urgency see to the nullification of the Western North Regional Secretary, Treasure Elections.
Reasons were that there were major irregularities, breach of rule of law, as well as well-calculated machinations associated with their election last Friday 27th May 2022 which can never be overlooked so far as a democracy governed by the rule of law and equal opportunities for all is concerned.
At a press conference, Mr Addo Harry, Secretary to a group known as
Western North Grassroot Agenda (WENGA) told newsmen that
, the irregularities directly had a clear influence on the elections which was a major determinant of who became the winner in some of the positions and such results have to be nullified.
According to him, the irregularities and unlawful abuse of the electoral process have been categorised under two headings namely;
1. UNDERMINING THE AUTHORITY OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE PARTY BY
ALLOWING 3 UNQUALIFIED DELEGATES FROM AOWIN CONSTITUENCY TO VOTE
Mr.Addo Harry indicated that,it will interest you to know that per a letter dated 27th of May ,2022, THE ADR COMMITTEE of the New Patriotic through the National Party authorized the Western North Regional Elections Committee to restrain some constituency officers from the Aowin Constituency namely:
the Assistant Secretary, Organizer and Women Organiser from holding themselves out as delegates in the regional elections which pointed to the fact that they shouldn’t be allowed to vote since they do not qualify as delegates.
However, upon the orders of the regional minister, they went ahead to vote despite strong protests by some aspirants.
He said, as a principle of law, it is stated that you cannot give what you don’t have and for that matter, they are asking the National Executive Council, National Director of Research and Elections and the Regional Minister for the capacity in which those people were allowed to vote upon the directives from the ADR COMMITTEE?.
“We wish to state that a result of allowing these unqualified delegates from Aowin Constituency to vote has had a clear impact on the outcome of the results.
For instance,
a)The Secretary Position
There were two aspirants for the secretary position namely, Samuel Kofi Abiaw who pulled ninety-eight (98)votes against Felix Foster Ackah’s one hundred and one(101) votes. Fromtheresultsstatedabove, it is clear the winner won by a margin of three votes. With or without the inclusion of the three unqualified delegates from Aowin, would it have affected the outcome of the results above?
YES and hence the need to nullify the results of the secretary position because the unqualified three delegates from Aowin became the determinant of the outcome of the secretary position.
b)The Treasurer Election
Gifty Adu Ankamah and John Amokye were the two main aspirants for this position with each pulling ninety-nine(99)and one hundred(100)votes respectively with one rejected ballot which is a clear case of overvoting.
In this scenario, if we are to do away with the overvoting, the winner won by a margin of one.
This is a clear sign that allowing the unqualified delegates to vote became the determinant of this election and hence the need to nullify these results.”He Stated.
SECONDLY, A TEXT CASE WHERE THE UNQUALIFIED VOTES FROM AOWIN COULD NOT DETERMINE THE RESULTS OF THE REGIONAL ORGANIZER’S ELECTION
Mr Addo Harry further revealed that, the Regional Orgnaizer’s race was contested between McDaniels Kwasi Nyame who had 122 votes against Adu Adjei who pulled 77 votes.
In this case,the inclusion or exclusion of the Aowin 3 Unqualified votes had no impact on the outcome.
REGIONAL CHAIRMANSHIP ELECTION
He said,the winner of the chairmanship position in the person of Mr.Benjamin Armah had one hundred and five votes as against his competitor Mr.William Benjamin Assuah who had ninety-four votes showing a clear difference of eleven votes(11)which means with the inclusion or exclusion of the Aowin three (3) unqualified votes, there would be a clear winner hence the Aowin unqualified voters were not determinants of the election.
EXCLUSION OF NAMES OF KNOWN REGIONAL COUNCIL OF ELDERS FROM THE LIST OF DELEGATES
“It saddens our heart to see the arbitrary use of power and lack of respect for the very people who have availed themselves to serve the party as the regional council of elders for our great party in the western north region.
In the year 2019, after the party’s regional delegates conference which saw the election of our first regional executives who were appointed, sworn in and issued appointment letters to that effect signed by the regional secretary.
A position they have held and acted upon from 2019 till date.
It is rather very unfortunate and disgracing to see on the day of the election some of these known council of elders had their names deleted from the delegate’s list and replaced with people who were issued with appointment letters on the very day of the election without the consent and approval of the other members of the regional executive committee.
The names of the affected council of elders are; Nana Nkuah Asante James, and Mr.Francis KwawCudjoe who doubled as a member of the regional elections committee as well as the vetting committee under his membership on the council and was replaced with names like Mr E.K Dadzi from Bia West, and Madam Gloria Antwi who according to the chairman of the council of elders are not known members but went ahead to vote.
This points to the fact that the regional elections held in the western north are fraught with irregularities and a mischievous attempt by some party bigwigs and their surrogates in the region to satisfy their self seeking interest by ensuring that their preferred candidates were elected.
For the above reason, we are by this press statement calling on the national council, and national elections committee to ensure that the results of the Secretary and Treasurer are nullified and fresh elections conducted to ensure that the will and wish of the people, particularly the grassroots of the party are not subverted.”He concluded.