A security analyst, Emmanuel Kotin has described the upsurge in protests by some party supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) over the disqualification of some parliamentary candidates in the upcoming primaries as a security threat to the nation.
According to him, some of these disgruntled supporters are likely to embark on more serious actions to press home their displeasure over ill-treatments within the political party.
In an interview with Citi News, Mr. Kotin called on the NPP to initiate reforms in addressing such concerns.
“The personal interest is becoming too much. And when personal interest [is at play], it makes objectiveness vanishes from the radar. It is a serious security issue because many of the people in the party will be doing a lot of other actions. They may either not vote or vote skirt and blouse and the effect will be that the party may lose because of the party situation.”
The upcoming NPP primaries have been characterized by allegations that some executives are making incumbent MPs run unopposed by disqualifying some aspirants.
For instance, 64 candidates were passed in the Eastern Region after the vetting. Notable among the candidates who did not pass the vetting process was Gloria Ofori-Boadu who had been disqualified from contesting the Abuakwa South constituency.
In the Offinso South Constituency, aggrieved delegates marched to the Offin river to perform a ritual to resist any attempt by party executives to impose the incumbent MP, Abdallah Bandah on them.
The situation is not different in the Juaben Constituency of the Ashanti Region where delegates have protested the decision of the party executives to disqualify an aspirant, Francis Owusu, from the constituency’s primaries.
The NPP has set Saturday, June 20, 2020, for its suspended presidential and parliamentary primaries.
The election, which was supposed to have come off on April 25, 2020, was postponed indefinitely due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country and the related restrictive measures announced by the President.
Meanwhile, the governing NPP will today, Monday, June 8, release the names of all persons cleared to contest the party’s June 20 parliamentary primaries.
