Suspend curse invoking members - NPP
The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr John Boadu, has directed constituency executives of the party to suspend all the people who invoked curses on the party leadership because of allegations that their preferred candidates had been disqualified from contesting the party's June 20 parliamentary primaries.
Ahead of the release of the names of qualified aspirants for the primaries yesterday, some party members last week undertook various forms of protest over reports that their preferred aspirants had been disqualified.
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Armed with eggs and bottles of Schnapps, some of the agitators carried placards and called out the names of some people who were on the vetting committee and invoked curses on them.
Misconduct
Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, Mr Boadu said the NPP was completely appalled by "such gross misconduct".
"The party has observed, rather worryingly, the conduct of some members claiming to be invoking curses on the party's leadership and in particular members of the NEC (National Executive Committee) on allegations that their preferred candidates had been disqualified by NEC from contesting the primaries. We are completely appalled by such gross misconduct," he said.
"Accordingly, the party is instructing the respective constituency executives in the constituencies where this unfortunate incidents happened to immediately suspend all those involved in this awkward behaviour, while instituting appropriate disciplinary actions against them, in line with articles 3 and 4 of the party’s constitution," he added.
Tano North
In Tano North, for instance, where Ms Freda Prempeh is the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), some party members invoked curses on the leadership of the party for allowing her to contest the primary unopposed.
That, they said, followed the disqualification of Emelia Konadu and Atta Kwadwo Bonsu.
The aggrieved supporters went to the River Tano and invoked curses on the vetting committee members.
Juaben
In Juaben in the Ashanti Region, about 300 NPP supporters had, on June 5, 2020, defied the COVID-19 safety protocols to demonstrate against the disqualification of their preferred aspiring parliamentary candidate.
They protested what they described as the party’s decision to favour the MP for the area, Ms Amma Pomaa Boateng, to run unopposed.
They slaughtered a sheep and invoked curses on any member of the party leadership whose action resulted in the disqualification of their preferred candidate.
Offinso South
In Offinso South, also in Ashanti, some disgruntled members of the NPP last Thursday invoked curses on persons they said were working to influence the disqualification of their preferred candidate, Dr Isaac Yaw Opoku, reports Kwadwo Baffoe Donkor.
It, however, turned out that Dr Opoku and Desmond Chris Appiah had qualified to contest against the incumbent MP, Ben Abdallah Banda.
However, with a fowl, a bottle of Schnapps and a crate of eggs, the youth, numbering about 100, last week called on all the river gods in the area to deal with any party official who was involved in what they said was a plot to disqualify their preferred aspirant.
Nalerigu/Gambaga and Saboba
Mohammed Fugu reports from the Northern and the North East regions that some aggrieved supporters of the NPP in Nalerigu/Gambaga and Saboba in the North East and the Northern Regions last Friday and Saturday took to the streets to protest against the disqualification and indefinite suspension of two parliamentary aspirants.
In Nalerigu/Gambaga, the supporters demanded the immediate reinstatement of one of the parliamentary aspirants, Mr Peter Wuni Baaga, who was indefinitely suspended from the party for misconduct, while in Saboba they demanded the immediate reinstatement of Mr Emmanuel Kotin, a security analyst who had been disqualified from contesting the parliamentary primary.
Since the disqualification and suspension of the two aspirants, tension has been brewing in the two constituencies.