A member of the campaign team of New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential hopeful, Alan Kyerematen; Collins Owusu Amankwa, has slammed the leaders of the party for their decisions to decentralise the upcoming super delegates congress.
The super delegates congress, which is scheduled for August 2023, is to reduce the number of the party’s presidential hopefuls from ten to five before the presidential primaries, which would be held in November 2023.
According to the Alan campaign team member, the decision of the party to hold the congress in the 16 regions does not make sense because most of the presidential hopefuls wanted it to be done at a central location due to fears of rigging and intimidation of the party’s delegates.
Speaking in an interview on Neat FM, on Friday, July 7, 2023, Owusu Amankwa, a former Member of Parliament for Manhyia North, said that the decision by the leadership of the NPP to ignore the appeal of the majority of the presidential hopefuls is a disgrace.
“These people (the aspirant) paid more than GHS300,000. It is this money that you are going to use to organise the primaries, hire hotels for delegates, pay for transportation of people from abroad and so on… so these people don’t have a say.
“Is that what my party’s leadership is telling me, that these people don’t have a say? These people are no mean persons in the party… Alan is a foundation member of the party. Kennedy Agyapong, Dr Kojo are people who were there when the party was being established.
“… this is a disgrace. How can you take such a decision despite all the concerns raised by the aspirants? This is a disgrace,” he said in Twi.
Background:
The New Patriotic Party General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, announced it will conduct its super delegates congress at the regional level.
This will be in line with the 2014 edition, where it was held along regional lines as part of measures to prune the number of aspirants down to five for the main contest slated for November 2023.
The party’s scribe told Metro TV in a brief interaction at the Alisa Hotel in Accra, where representatives of some flagbearer hopefuls had attended a crunch meeting over the matter; that all parties were satisfied with the decision.
“The party has taken a firm decision with respect to the presidential primaries, where we are going to hold it and also one or two issues that came up. We have been able to resolve it.
“We are going to do it (the super delegates voting) at the regional level. Across 16 regions, same as occurred in 2014,” JFK told Paul Adom-Otchere.
This decision of the party is not supported by 9 of the 10 presidential aspirants of the party, according to reports.
Watch the interview below: