Some of the protesters
HUNDREDS of supporters of the opposition National
Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Suame Constituency yesterday held a protest
against the exclusion of a parliamentary candidate aspirant, Emmanuel Boahen
from the party’s primary election.
The aspirant was declared unfit to run for the
NDC parliamentary slot by the party’s vetting committee headed by Mr Alban
Kingsford Sumani Bagbin because he is not a member in good standing in the
constituency.
This has paved way for Francis Dodovi to run
unopposed in the upcoming internal election.
But exclusion of Emmanuel Boahen has sparked a
rare outcry with many of the constituency and branch executives, questioning
the grounds of his disqualification and accusing regional executives of unfair
treatment.
Sunday morning protesters gathered in front of
the party’s constituency office after authorities disqualified their favourite
candidate from standing in the primaries, citing conspiracy scheme against
Emmanuel Boahen.
The party’s branch chairman for the Osei Kwadwo-B
Electoral Area at Breman, Isaac Peprah, said they would keep demanding the
regional executive to respect their rights to make a choice between Francis
Dodovi and Emmanuel Boahen, whom he personally registered at the branch.
“He has a party card and pays his dues
accordingly. I wonder why they are saying he is not eligible to stand for
parliamentary candidate. He is a voter in this constituency. They can’t
disqualify him because of someone’s interest,” he stated.
He wants the national executives of the party to
intervene or they would advise themselves.
The protesters also petitioned the constituency
chairman, Seeba Mohammed and called on him to forward it to the top
echelon of the NDC for swift action on the issue.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi
