i. an earlier meeting of the National Chairman, General Secretary and the aspirants in June 2010:
ii. a series of meetings between the Elections Committee and representatives of the aspirants since vetting was completed in June 2010:
iii. and a meeting of the Elections Committee and the aspirants themselves on the 5th July 2010:
Despite the spin, it is clear that the four presidential hopefuls, Prof. Kwabena Frempong-Boateng, Isaac Osei, John Kodua and Alan Kyerematen have lost confidence in the party s internal procedure for addressing grievances. Four of the five persons vying for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential slot organized a joint-press conference on Wednesday, 15 July 2010, to air their grievances publicly. Political analysts are of the opinion that the very fact that these people were forced to come public is a sign that something is deeply amiss within the elephant family. They had warned at the press conference that the electoral register that will be used for the party’s primaries on August 7, 2010 is not credible and so they will no longer co-operate with the party’s electoral committee.
The four complaining presidential hopefuls who held the joint press conference in Accra, slammed the electoral committee and the leadership of the party for what they described as “an electoral register in disarray.” Additionally, there are reports that some party members are planning to seek a court injunction restraining the proposed congress from taking place as originally scheduled due to “unaddressed grievances in the road map to congress”. The aggrieved candidates in a press conference accused the national executives of presiding over irregularities which could tilt the election in favour of their competitor, Nana Akufo-Addo. The controversy aggravated, with Stephen Ntim, a failed National Chairman of the party and an ally to Alan Kyeremanten also wading into the controversy and accusing the national executives of plotting to rig the elections.
General Secretary of the Party Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie did not take kindly to the approach adopted by representatives of the four candidates and hinted of possible sanctions against them. A member of the New Patriotic Party Council of Elders Appenten Appiah Menkah also expressed shock at the ongoing media war between four presidential candidates on one hand and the national executives on the other. “I don't believe anything within the party should be in the public domain,” he told Joy News. A former General Secretary of the party, Dan Botwe was equally appalled with the decision of the four candidates to go to the press. He described as unacceptable the actions of the four, saying their grievances about voters register "is much ado about nothing".
Party Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, would have none of the grievances of the four aspirants in a response, published by the DAILY GUIDE 15-Jul-2010, he reaffirmed the ”official position” that the NPP had an “absolute belief in the credibility of the voters’ register” and that the fine details of how the register was compiled had been well explained to all aspirants who understood the process. He was therefore surprised at the latest turn of events. A leading Member of Nana Akufo-Addo's Victory 2012 campaign Team, Mr. Boakye Agyarko has hit back at the four presidential aspirants for taking issues of the party to the public domain, instead of using the party structures to address their grievances. He described the 'modus operandi' used by the four aspirants as a 'childish' approach and appealed to the National Executive Committee (NEC) to treat it with magnanimous contempt. Mr. Boakye Agyarko, who contested the presidential primary of the party in 2007 said, he could not understand the posture and channels being used by the aspirants to seek a redress.
'I think that it is bad faith. We, the victory for 2012 campaign team would not do anything like that. We shall channel our grievances through the appropriate channels of the party. We believe that is the only way we can move forward as a party,' he said. In another development, the General Secretary of the party, Mr. John Owusu Afriyie, aka Sir John also said the press conference was not necessary because the issues the aspirants were speaking about were being addressed.
According to the General Secretary, upon receiving the letter of complaint, signed by the four peeved aspirants, the party invited them to a meeting to discuss the matter, but they could not wait and went ahead with the conference. He insisted that the voter register had already been validated and submitted to the Electoral Commission and that the complainants could have easily found out from the EC which they did not do. He was of the view that they should have picked the register and studied it before raising any concern, than wasting their breath to organize the press conference. On the concern of lack of communication between the aspirants and the party, Sir John disclosed that the party was always in touch with the aspirants or sometimes with their agents.
He declined to accept that the four aspirants were fighting Nana, saying 'they are fighting the process of the election'. MP for Asokwa and former Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly Chief Executive, Maxwell Kofi Jumah has said that some ‘fake’ members of the New Patriotic Party he calls Al-Qaeda are doctoring constituency registers of the party. Kofi Jumah, who was speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme on Friday, said the act is “rampant” in the Eastern Region and believes the perpetrators intend to influence the outcome of the August 7 primary to elect a presidential candidate for the party. Contrary to criticisms that the action of the four – going public with their grievances – aimed at sowing seeds of discord in the party, Kofi Jumah said the four aspirants love the party, however they feel frustrated by machinations within the party that suggest they are being handed a raw deal.
He said those criticizing the four for going public with their grievances over alleged shortcomings in the party’s electoral register should also advocate for an open door policy in the party, explaining that the party needs to first desist from creating situations that will cause its members to voice publicly whatever misgivings they may have. He said for instance if complaints or petitions are dealt with expeditiously, there will be no need for any member of the party to go public with the same issues. But when they petition the party’s leadership and see no action, they should not be blamed for washing the party’s dirty linen in public.
Kofi Jumah said those Al-Qaeda NPP members have long set about their clandestine jobs and should be told in the face that the NPP abhors their nefarious activities rather than taking on those who dare to speak about the wrongs. He said had those being criticized used the occasion to commend some good deeds within the party, even if publicly, none would have come out to condemn them.
One of the candidates who contested the New Patriotic Party’s chairmanship slot, Stephen Ntim, has voiced out some concerns relating to how the party’s electoral committee handled the grievances of aspirants. Mr. Ntim who lost the Kumasi congress to Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey is convinced he was cheated. He described his painful experience on Asempa Fm’ Ekosii Sen programme on Thursday, citing how he was defeated due to the manner in which the electoral commission handled his petition. Mr. Ntim revealed that he has sent a petition of about three pages long to the party chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey to investigate the alleged electoral malpractices that rocked the Kumasi congress.
He noted that his petition was snubbed by Jake. According to him not only did he wait for one and half months for a reply, but in the reply which he claimed was made up of only four lines indicated that the election committee would rather consider resolving the issues concerning the electoral irregularities and not necessarily investigating the matter. Mr. Ntim cited some incidents which he believed robbed him of his votes. He said he was not given a copy of the electoral register. Secondly, there were proxy votes of about five hundred which exceeded the accepted proxy votes of one hundred and eight. According to him there were eleven proxy votes against him alone. He also alleged that voters from TESCON were handpicked to vote against him.
There are Al-Qaedas in NPP – Maxwell Kofi Jumah,
| Jake cheated me to win NPP chairmanship - Ntim |
NPP Council of Elders call for ceasefire, Source: myjoyonline - Myjoyonline.com, Politics | 1 day ago
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NPP Congress In Danger, Myjoyonline.com/Ghan, Date: 15-Jul-2010.
NPP For Court Over August 7 Congress, Date: 16-Jul-2010
The frustrations of four NPP aspirants, Source: Ghanaian Chronicle Ghanaian Chronicle - Politics | 1 day ago
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The frustrations of four NPP aspirants
Source: Ghanaian Chronicle - Ghanaian ChroniclePolitics | 1 day ago
Nana Akufo-Addo
 Love is a TO and FRO projected feeling of the HEART. - By: FRANCIS TAWIAH -->Duisburg  More Quotes | Submit a Quote |
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Akufo-Addo's aide hits back
By Bismark Bebli &Â Yussif Kewura
Nana Akufo-Addo
A leading Member of Nana Akufo-Addo's Victory 2012 campaign Team, Mr. Boakye Agyarko has hit back at the four presidential aspirants for taking issues of the party to the public domain, instead of using the party structures to address their grievances.
He described the 'modus operandi' used by the four aspirants as a 'childish' approach and appealed to the National Executive Committee (NEC) to treat it with magnanimous contempt.
According to him, it was unfortunate that when the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is currently in turmoil and Ghanaians are crying for the return of the NPP to redeem them, the four aspirants would resort to unorthodox means of seeking redress with an attempt to disregard the party structures.
'It is a show of bad faith to disrespect the party structure and the constitution. We did not resort to press conferences when seventeen of us were vying for the presidential slot. If we had done that the party would have collapsed by now,' he said.
'A this juncture, I will ignore it with contempt. What are they seeking for? Now that the NDC is in turmoil, it is incumbent on us to hold ourselves together because Ghanaians are looking up to us and I will suggest that the party ignore it and treat it with magnanimous contempt and forge ahead.
You don't need to punish them. This is because any attempt to punish them would bring some sort of confusion and the NDC would laugh at us because that is what they want,' he claimed.
Speaking in an interview with this paper, Mr. Boayke Agyarko dismissed claims that Nana Akufo-Addo was aware of the planned press conference but did not delegate any of his representatives to attend.
He said despite the fact that the actions of the four presidential aspirants were irritating, the party should remain focused and work towards a successful congress.
He was, however, shocked about the actions of the four aspirants, saying that they have met ten days ago and the issues of the irregularities were brought onto the table, and it was discussed to the satisfaction of all.
The four NPP presidential hopefuls, Mr. Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen,                Prof. Frimpong Kwabena-Boateng, Hon. Isaac Osei and Apostle John K. Kodua, through their representatives expressed disquiet about what they described as 'seeming lack of clarity in constituting an acceptable register for the conduct of the presidential primaries.'
To the worried and concerned aspirants, the digital register been adopted by the leadership of the party was in a state of disarray, with significant errors, stressing further that any attempt by the election committee to go ahead with the unfinished digital register would create anarchy, confusion and above all disenfranchise potential delegates.
'In all fairness, we must acknowledge the major efforts the party had embarked on to consolidate the various constituency albums into one digital register. With hindsight however, perhaps that laudable process ought not to have been done as part of this particular primary, given the time constraints.
'This is because the first draft of the digital register received on the 16th June 2010 at 80% completion had less than a 60% photo complement.
Moreover, it was in a state of disarray with significant errors including some photos with different names, photos of women with men's names and vice versa, as well as numerous gaps with no photos at all.'
But Mr. Boakye Agyarko, who contested the presidential primary of the party in 2007 said, he could not understand the posture and channels being used by the aspirants to seek a redress.
'I think that it is bad faith. We, the victory for 2012 campaign team would not do anything like that. We shall channel our grievances through the appropriate channels of the party. We believe that is the only way we can move forward as a party,' he said.
The General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Mr. John Owusu Afriyie, aka Sir John has also commented on the press conference held by the representatives of the four presidential aspirants of the party.
Speaking in an interview with The Chronicle in Accra yesterday, Sir John said the press conference was not necessary because the issues the aspirants were speaking about were being addressed.
According to the General Secretary, upon receiving the letter of complaint, signed by the four peeved aspirants, the party invited them to a meeting to discuss the matter, but they could not wait and went ahead with the conference.
He revealed that the voter register had already been validated and submitted to the Electoral Commission and that the complainants could have easily found out from the EC which they did not do.
He was of the view that they should have picked the register and studied it before raising any concern, than wasting their breath to organize the press conference.
On the concern of lack of communication between the aspirants and the party, Sir John disclosed that the party was always in touch with the aspirants or sometimes with their agents.
He declined to accept that the four aspirants were fighting Nana, saying 'they are fighting the process of the election'.
By Bismark Bebli &Â Yussif Kewura
Nana Akufo-Addo
A leading Member of Nana Akufo-Addo's Victory 2012 campaign Team, Mr. Boakye Agyarko has hit back at the four presidential aspirants for taking issues of the party to the public domain, instead of using the party structures to address their grievances.
He described the 'modus operandi' used by the four aspirants as a 'childish' approach and appealed to the National Executive Committee (NEC) to treat it with magnanimous contempt.
According to him, it was unfortunate that when the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is currently in turmoil and Ghanaians are crying for the return of the NPP to redeem them, the four aspirants would resort to unorthodox means of seeking redress with an attempt to disregard the party structures.
'It is a show of bad faith to disrespect the party structure and the constitution. We did not resort to press conferences when seventeen of us were vying for the presidential slot. If we had done that the party would have collapsed by now,' he said.
'A this juncture, I will ignore it with contempt. What are they seeking for? Now that the NDC is in turmoil, it is incumbent on us to hold ourselves together because Ghanaians are looking up to us and I will suggest that the party ignore it and treat it with magnanimous contempt and forge ahead.
You don't need to punish them. This is because any attempt to punish them would bring some sort of confusion and the NDC would laugh at us because that is what they want,' he claimed.
Speaking in an interview with this paper, Mr. Boayke Agyarko dismissed claims that Nana Akufo-Addo was aware of the planned press conference but did not delegate any of his representatives to attend.
He said despite the fact that the actions of the four presidential aspirants were irritating, the party should remain focused and work towards a successful congress.
He was, however, shocked about the actions of the four aspirants, saying that they have met ten days ago and the issues of the irregularities were brought onto the table, and it was discussed to the satisfaction of all.
The four NPP presidential hopefuls, Mr. Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen,                Prof. Frimpong Kwabena-Boateng, Hon. Isaac Osei and Apostle John K. Kodua, through their representatives expressed disquiet about what they described as 'seeming lack of clarity in constituting an acceptable register for the conduct of the presidential primaries.'
To the worried and concerned aspirants, the digital register been adopted by the leadership of the party was in a state of disarray, with significant errors, stressing further that any attempt by the election committee to go ahead with the unfinished digital register would create anarchy, confusion and above all disenfranchise potential delegates.
'In all fairness, we must acknowledge the major efforts the party had embarked on to consolidate the various constituency albums into one digital register. With hindsight however, perhaps that laudable process ought not to have been done as part of this particular primary, given the time constraints.
'This is because the first draft of the digital register received on the 16th June 2010 at 80% completion had less than a 60% photo complement.
Moreover, it was in a state of disarray with significant errors including some photos with different names, photos of women with men's names and vice versa, as well as numerous gaps with no photos at all.'
But Mr. Boakye Agyarko, who contested the presidential primary of the party in 2007 said, he could not understand the posture and channels being used by the aspirants to seek a redress.
'I think that it is bad faith. We, the victory for 2012 campaign team would not do anything like that. We shall channel our grievances through the appropriate channels of the party. We believe that is the only way we can move forward as a party,' he said.
The General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Mr. John Owusu Afriyie, aka Sir John has also commented on the press conference held by the representatives of the four presidential aspirants of the party.
Speaking in an interview with The Chronicle in Accra yesterday, Sir John said the press conference was not necessary because the issues the aspirants were speaking about were being addressed.
According to the General Secretary, upon receiving the letter of complaint, signed by the four peeved aspirants, the party invited them to a meeting to discuss the matter, but they could not wait and went ahead with the conference.
He revealed that the voter register had already been validated and submitted to the Electoral Commission and that the complainants could have easily found out from the EC which they did not do.
He was of the view that they should have picked the register and studied it before raising any concern, than wasting their breath to organize the press conference.
On the concern of lack of communication between the aspirants and the party, Sir John disclosed that the party was always in touch with the aspirants or sometimes with their agents.
He declined to accept that the four aspirants were fighting Nana, saying 'they are fighting the process of the election'.
NPP Council of Elders call for ceasefire
Source: myjoyonline - Myjoyonline.comPolitics | 1 day ago
Appenten Appiah Menka
| What happens at a particular time is the right thing that could have happened, when it is over, it is over. - By: AGAMOLGA AWUNI More Quotes | Submit a Quote |
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The aggrieved candidates in a press conference accused the national executives of presiding over irregularities which could tilt the election in favour of their competitor, Nana Akufo-Addo.
General Secretary of the Party Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie did not take kindly to the approach adopted by representatives of the four candidates and hinted of possible sanctions against them.
The controversy aggravated, with Stephen Ntim, a failed National Chairman of the party and an ally to Alan Kyeremanten also wading into the controversy and accusing the national executives of plotting to rig the elections.
But Mr Appiah Menka is unimpressed with the procedures the four have adopted in having their grievances resolved.
“I don't believe anything within the party should be in the public domain,” he told Joy News.
“If you go to the press can the public solve the problem for you?" He quizzed.
He said the party has rules and regulations governing it and chided the four for not consulting the council before going public with their grievances.
The council has subsequently summoned all the five candidates for a meeting on Monday, 19th July, 2010 to thrash out their differences.
A former General Secretary of the party, Dan Botwe was equally appalled with the decision of the four candidates to go to the press.
He described as unacceptable the actions of the four, saying their grievances about voters register "is much ado about nothing".
Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana
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