Some persons seeking to contest sitting Members of Parliament in the upcoming New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary primaries say they have not been able to pick up nomination forms because of their unavailability at some constituency offices.
After the NPP opened nominations, the party’s General Secretary, John Boadu, last week in Kumasi reiterated that no sitting MP would be protected to run unopposed.
At the Suame Constituency, for instance, a legal practitioner, John Darko said all efforts to get forms at the constituency office to contest the sitting MP, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, have proven futile.
But he told Citi News that he plans to pursue his ambitions through all the means provided by the party structures.
“Some of us are not ready to give up. I am going to move to the next stage until I pick the nomination forms because I believe that contesting the election in Suame is very critical.”
“The rules are very clear; if you come to the constituency and you don’t get it then you go to the region and if you don’t get it at the region then you go to the national level. So the next step for me is to go to the national headquarters,” Mr. Darko noted.
The vetting for the aspirants is set for April 20 ahead of the primaries on April 25.
The NPP will also be holding its presidential primaries on the same day.
The party pegged filing fees for its upcoming parliamentary primaries at GHS20,000 and an additional GHS2,000 for picking of forms.
All aspiring parliamentary candidates other than the sitting Members of Parliament will pay a Party Development Fee of GHS30,000.
The party has already held primaries for constituencies that do not have sitting Members of Parliament.
