Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has accused his opponents of adopting a deliberate campaign of peddling falsehood against him as they sense defeat ahead of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential primaries on November 4.
He said allegations such as vote-buying, sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) going unopposed, and preventing Polling Station Executives and Electoral Area Coordinators from voting in the presidential primary were mere fabrications to smear his image.
Dr Bawumia said this while addressing delegates in the Tatale-Sanguli Constituency as part of his campaign tour of the Northern Region.
The NPP flagbearer hopeful is on a week-long tour of the region, engaging and soliciting votes from the delegates ahead of the November 4 presidential primary of the party.
Voting rights
Dr Bawumia said it was not possible for him to stop Polling Station Executives and Electoral Coordinators from voting in the presidential primaries because it was enshrined in the party’s constitution.
“What I actually want to do is to push for reforms to allow Electoral Area Coordinators and Polling Station Executives to vote in the Regional Executive Elections.
So we want to rather expand and include everybody and not to reduce and so that lie must be put to rest,” he noted.
MPs
Dr Bawumia added, “I will never say a sitting MP must go unopposed. There must be a consensus in every constituency and so that is a lie”.
“My opponents are sensing defeat so they have adopted new tactics and that is if you miss the ball don’t miss the man. They have decided to spread lies and to create disunity among the party members,” he said.
He, therefore, appealed to the delegates to repose their confidence in him to enable him to lead the party for a resounding victory in the 2024 general election.
Delegates
The NPP will hold its presidential primary on Saturday, November 4, 2023, to elect a flagbearer for the party in the 2024 general election.
About 200,000 delegates are expected to vote in the election. Voting is expected to commence at 7 a.m. and close at 2:p.m. per the guidelines issued by the party for the conduct of the November 4 polls.
Delegates for the election comprise all members of the National Council; National, Regional and Constituency Executive Committees; Electoral Area Coordinators; and five polling station executives in each polling station (Chairman, Secretary, Organiser, Youth and Women Organisers).
The others are 15 members of the National Council of Elders to be elected from among themselves, Members of Parliament (MP), past national officers, three representatives of each of the special organs of the party (Women Organisers, Nasara and Youth wings), 12 delegates from every external branch (27 branches in all).
The rest are founding members who were signatories to the registration documents of the party at the EC, one TESCON representative from each recognised tertiary institution, all party card-bearing ministers and deputies, and all metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives.
Contenders
Those who are in the race for the single slot are Dr Bawumia; Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central in the Central Region, Ken Ohene Agyapong; former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, and a former MP for Mampong in the Ashanti Region, Francis Addai-Nimoh.
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