A total of fifteen (15) aspirants were disqualified by the vetting committee of the ruling New Patriotic Party, NPP, in the Eastern Region.
The vetting process which started on March 4, 2020, ended Saturday, March 7, 2020; at 7:00pm saw 79 aspirants make an appearance before the committee out of which fifteen were disqualified.
Some of the disqualified aspirants were Lawyer Philip Addison-Lead Counsel for the NPP during the landmark election petition of 2016 at the Supreme Court. Lawyer Phillip Addison was contesting the incumbent MP, Nana Ama Dokua also a Deputy Information Minister alongside William Agyei Twumasi an Accountant at Akropong Presbyterian College of Education who was also disqualified.
All four aspirants -Ernest Adade Owiredu, Kudjoe Amegah Kafui, Eric Agyarko and Dr. Benny Frank who was contesting the Incumbent Member of Parliament for Atewa East, Abena Osei Asare, a Deputy Finance Minister were also disqualified.
Dr. Samuel Owusu Akyem, the only aspirant who was contesting the MP for Atiwa West-Kwasi Amoako Atta who is also Roads and Highways Minister, was disqualified.
The MP for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea’s sole contender, Gloria Ofori-Akufo, was also disqualified.
At Fanteakwa North, the incumbent MP, Kwabena Amankwa Asiamah, may go unopposed following the disqualification of his two contenders, Moro Sakyiama Yakubu and Freeman Ofori Agyarko.
The Abirim MP, John Osei Frimpong, may go unopposed his two contenders -Frank Mireku Ahemah and Daniel Amoako Afrifa were disqualified. Frank Mireku Ahemah was arrested at the vetting ground by Police over allegations of fraud.
The Eastern Regional Secretary of the NPP, Jeff Konadu, briefing the media last night after the vetting, said those disqualified had their documentations fraught with irregularities whilst in the case of Atiwa East, the four were disqualified because their supporters breached the party’s code of conduct by invoking a curse on the committee.
He said, all the disqualified aspirants have the opportunity to appeal at the national level.
“Out of the 79, the committee found that 15 of them were somehow -their documentations and other things could not qualify them to contest in these primaries and that is going to be our report to be forwarded to National for consideration. At the end of the day, the national party will take a final decision of the vetting committee’s report and all the proposed disqualified aspirants have the opportunity to also petition the National Appeals committee for their case to be held”.
Furious Supporters of the disqualified aspirants threatened to vote skirt and blouse in the upcoming Parliamentary election over what they call unfair disqualification ostensibly to let some MPs go unopposed.
The disqualified aspirants, however, refused to speak to the media amidst expression of rage and disappointment on their faces.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Obed Ansah
