Though the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tema West, Mr Carlos Ahenkorah, has resigned as a Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry over his decision to visit registration centres at the time he was carrying the Coronavirus disease, some of his own executives appear not satisfied and want the party to withdraw his nomination as candidate for the constituency.
Mr Ahenkorah has since recovered from the disease, but the branch Chairman of the Good Shep. EP Church, Lashibi, Michael Akuffo, in a petition submitted to the party headquarters, is not satisfied, especially when Mr. Ahenkorah himself admitted to testing positive for COVID-19 and failing to self-isolate, but additionally choosing to visit registration centers.
“This action of his runs contrary to the laid down protocols as espoused by WHO and the President of the Republic. His action has bought the party’s name into disrepute and public ridicule as captured under article 4 Clause 7, 1 (g) of the NPP Constitution, which states that a member shall not bring the name of the party into disrepute or public ridicule.”
“Failure by the party to take necessary action and dealing with the issue will allow the general Ghanaian populace to question the rationale of punishing others who equally flouted the laid down protocols,” he stated.
Another petitioner, Shaibu Abdullai Kabore, Organiser for the St. James Primary Polling Station, who has also petitioned the party, cautioned that failure of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to take appropriate sanctions will erode the confidence Ghanaians have in the NPP as a party and government.
“As you are aware already, party members, sympathisers and civil society groups have espoused his resignation from the position of a Deputy Minister. That notwithstanding, he resigning is not deterrent enough to save him from the embarrassment caused the party in general.
“In any case, he went there in his capacity as the parliamentary candidate for the party in the upcoming national parliamentary election, and not as a Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, hence the need for the party to sanction him for bringing the party’s name into disrepute and public ridicule.
“You will recall that in accepting his resignation letter, it was reiterated by the President that his appointees must provide leadership at all times. But Hon Ahenkorah failed to pass this test.
“How then does the NPP, as a ruling government, put him up to lead the party in this constituency? This is not proper and must be corrected,” he argued.
“We, therefore, want the party to withdraw the candidature of Hon. Carlos Ahenkorah to save the image of the party in this constituency, and to retain the NPP seat, which we have always honourably held,” he pleaded.
The Branch Organiser for the Triumphant Grace Baptist Church Chapter 17, Samuel Asante Amankwa, is also not happy and wants the candidature of the MP withdrawn. “According to his own account on radio, he broke presidential protocols and breached the Executive Instrument (EI) covering COVID-19, something for which other Ghanaians have been arraigned before court,” he said.
The post Some NPP branch execs still want Ahenkora withdrawn from MP race appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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