Stand down and acclaim the handsome winner of Sunday’s Super Delegates Conference. That is the proposal by the Ashanti Region Council of Elders to the seven presidential aspirants vying for the New Patriotic Party flagbearership.
Chairman of the Ashanti Council of Elders, Apenteng Appiah Menka, who also doubles as a member of the National Council of Elders at a press conference in Kumasi, Tuesday said the proposal is, to among other things, cut cost for a party reeling under heavy financial constraints.
The Super Delegates Congress scheduled for Sunday is geared towards pruning to five the seven candidates vying to bear the presidential flag of the New Patriotic Party in the 2016 presidential elections.
The five will then go into the National Delegates Congress out of which one person would be voted for as the presidential candidate for the party.
Per the resolution by the Ashanti Council, any contestant who polls an overwhelming majority in the Super Delegates Congress must be acclaimed by the rest of the aspirants.
“If one gets more than 60 per cent of the vote then all remaining six should step down and pledge their support for the winner,” Appiah Menka said at the press conference.
That way, there will be no need for the National Delegates Congress.
He said the proposal is partly to “conserve the respect” of the remaining candidates.
With a call by the party’s Council of Elders for members to use internal channels of communication instead of the media, questions have raised about why Appiah Menka, a member of the National Council of Elders will violate the fiat.
But the founding member of the NPP told journalists at the conference this is a “decision by the regional council of elders and I was directed to make it public.”
A member of the Ashanti Council, Ayisi Boateng, also told Joy News the party is heavily constrained in its finances, adding the proposal was most prudent.
He dismissed assertions the proposal was unconstitutional, saying the constitution was made for humans and by humans and the same human beings can vary the constitution.
He also rebuffed claims the proposal was to favour one of the candidates- Nana Akufo-Addo.
He argued if after the Super Delegates Congress Alan Kyermanteng or Stephen Asamoah Boateng should win their proposal will still stand.
Some of the candidates have not taken kindly to the proposal.
Stephen Asamoah Boateng wondered why the branch would go public on such a matter when it could easily have dealt with the matter internally and with the candidates involved.
He would not say what he would do in the event he does not win the Super Delegates Congress except to say “when we get to the bridge we will cross it.”
But spokesperson for the Alan Kyerematen, Nana Ohene Ntow has heavily criticised the the proposal.
He said the proposal is “vexatious” and “has come too late in the day.”
He added the proposal will create unnecessary tension and confusion in the party.
He said what would the NPP do if five days to national election, the Electoral Commission varies the processes by which a president is elected by a simple majority instead of the constitutionally mandated 50+1 vote?
Nana Ohene Ntow said he is a bit dismayed that such a controversial proposal can be put out at this time.
In any case, he pointed out, that the party in seeking to make elections more participatory decided to enlarge the delegates from 2,000 to over 100,000.
He wondered why leading members of the party will now turn around and propose that a decision by some 700 delegates should hold sway instead of the 100,000 adopted by the party’ itself and enshrined in its constitution.
