The General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu, has allayed fears from some quarters that a lot of the sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Ashanti region will be allowed to go unopposed in the party’s impending primaries.
This follows media reports attributed to the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the party, Bernard Antwi Boasiako (aka Chairman Wontumi), suggesting that the party will protect sitting MPs in the region.
However, in an interaction with the Ashanti Regional Council, comprising all regional executives, constituency chairmen and secretaries as well as sitting MPs and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives in the region on Friday, January 24, 2020, Mr Boadu set the records straight that nothing of the sort will happen.
Accordingly, he gave out nomination forms to all the constituency chairmen and instructed them not to deny access to any member of the party who wishes to contest in the primaries.
Mr Boadu was in the Ashanti region to organise orientation for the various constituency elections committee members and the Ashanti Regional party in furtherance of the rules and regulations for the conduct of the primaries.
He chairs the National Parliamentary Vetting Committee for the Ashanti Region with Gary Nimako and Abdul Aziz Futah as the other representatives from National Executive Council (NEC) on the vetting committee.
The meeting was to afford the NEC representatives an opportunity to explain in details the rules and regulations for the conduct of the primaries.
The meeting again offered the national executives the opportunity to consult with regional and constituency executives on ways to ensure that seats that were won marginally are protected so that the party could retain those seats in 2020.
The meeting also discussed strategies to win seats that are currently being held by the opposition National Democratic Congress.
In attendance were the National Chairman of the party, Freddy Blay; the 2nd National Vice Chairman, F.F. Antoh; the National Nasara Coordinator, Abdul Aziz Futah; a Deputy National Communications Director, Yaw Preko, all regional executives and other party kingpins.