A founding father of the New Patriotic party (NPP) and Presidential Advisor; Dr. Amoako Tuffour has advised against clandestine efforts to prevent people from contesting sitting MPs in the Ashanti region.
News broke during the weekend that Ashanti regional NPP Chairman; Bernard Antwi-Bosiako (also known as Chairman Wontumi) had announced that sitting NPP MPs will go unopposed and hence face no competition.
This announcement got a lot of NPP members angry especially those in the Ashanti region. A few however who stand to benefit from this declaration were ostensibly excited.
NPP bigwig; Dr. Amoako Tuffour however says the directive is out of the question. “The party cannot operate on anyone’s whim”, he said in an interview on Kumasi-based Fox FM, adding that they will not sit idle for anyone to take the party back into opposition.
“If the sitting MP had not contested someone, would he have become MP? We don’t want any situation that will cause skirt and blouse elections. If you prevent someone from contesting, the person, his family and supporters will most likely not vote for the candidate so imposed. This will not auger well for the NPP. People will be angry if there is no fairness” he said.
He said the party hierarchy could negotiate with aspiring MPs where they deem necessary but cannot compel them to stand down on their ambitions.
He recounted how many members of the NPP contested the Presidential Primaries against Nana Addo and observed that the party did not collapse because of the competition but emerged stronger.
He said though experience is important, potential should not be sacrificed since it may affect the future of the party.
