Asawase NPP Primary: Bawumia’s aide files nomination…defies Reg. Execs decision

By:brightwebtv.com/nana asare barimah

An aide to Vice President Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, Manaf Ibrahim has finally filed his nomination forms at the Asawase Constituency office of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to contest the party’s parliamentary primaries for the orphan constituency.

The former deputy Ashanti Regional Secretary of the party stormed the Asawase constituency office on Thursday, August 1, 2019 with hundreds of supporters made up of his family, friends, and delegates after a cheerful trek in a musical float from Aboabo post office through to the Asawase NPP office.

Ibrahim’s decision defies the party’s Ashanti Regional Executive Council warning to parliamentary candidates hopeful seeking to contest 2016 defeated parliamentary candidates appointed as DCE’s for the three orphan constituencies in the region to halt their plans.

The Council’s warning was fearlessly criticized by supporters of the ruling party and other political watchers as an undemocratic recipe for intraparty chaos in the orphan constituency to the disadvantage of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to retain the parliamentary seat for the fourth term if the party goes to election 2020 with the divided front.

On Saturday, July 20, 2019, the young politician and his supporters left the Asawase Constituency office of the NPP in disappointment after they were refused nomination forms at the office with the excuse that the forms for the constituency have not been handed over to the party’s constituency executives.

This compelled Manaf to pick nomination forms personally from the National Secretary of the NPP Mr. John Boadu before submitting the forms to Asawase constituency office including a Bank draft of Ten Thousand Ghana Cedis (Ghc10, 000) in line with the parties elections guidelines that permits the youth contesting in the primary to pay half of Twenty thousand Ghana Cedis (Ghc.20, 000) as a filing fee.

Though the constituency executives including the Chairman were all absent in the office at the time of filling, the constituency elections officer Abdul Nasri Kato, received the forms on behalf of the executives and assured Manaf Ibrahim and his supporters that, he will submit the forms to the regional office of the party for the other process to continue.

“It’s unfortunate our regional executives are not here to receive your forms they are currently working on something in the interest of the party, therefore I have been tasked to receive your forms on their behalf. Let me assure you that your forms will be handed over to the constituency executives before it will be submitted to the regional executives for other processes to continue’’ Abdul Kato assured.

Manaf Ibrahim, while addressing the party supporters urged the party regional executives not to short-change the democratic electoral process of the NPP with their personal interest by adopting rough elimination tactics.

He questioned why some constituency Chairman of the party will impose underperforming MCE of Asokore-Mampong Municipality, Alidu Seidu against the will of the party’s delegates in the constituency as the unopposed parliamentary candidate for Aswase.

“Even President Nana Akufo Addo our then Presidential candidate in 2008, 2012 and 2016 went through the Flagbearer primaries before he won elections 2016 to become president of the republic. Therefore, I will like to use this opportunity to tell the regional executives of our party to open the contest for me to face whoever is interested in the Asawase NPP parliamentary primaries. Everybody in our party knows that I’m a peaceful person and if I lose in the primaries I will concede for the party to move on so why these tactics’’ he asked.

Toughing on the NPP’s party’s chances of winning the Asawase parliamentary seat from the long-serving Minority Chief Whip of Parliament Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, Manaf said, the Asawase delegates must change the former parliamentary candidate who has woefully failed to leave to expectation after being nominated by the President as MCE for the dominated NDC constituency.

“The President is very disappointed in Alidu our MCE because he has woefully failed in the latex ranking of MCE’s, MMDCE’s performance across the country. Winning the Asawase Parliamentary seat is the major priority of the NPP as a political party, however, with the performance of our MCE in the municipality do we have the political bragging courage to campaign in the area with our underperforming MCE as parliamentary candidate?. We may have no massage to tell the people for votes against Muntaka, that’s why we need change. It’s not the responsibility of Our MP Muntaka to build hospitals and toilet facilities in our constituency but rather our MCE, ask you what you see in Asawase constituency now. We need a smart intelligent young man like me to push for what we deserve’’ he stated.

Kasapafmonline.com