65 aspirants to go unopposed in NPP parliamentary primaries

Sixty-five aspirants are going unopposed in the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) parliamentary primaries slated for June 20, 2020.

The list of unopposed aspirants includes Defence Minister; Dominic Nitiwul, Minister for Education; Matthew Opoku Prempeh and Minister for Works and Housing; Samuel Atta Akyea who are vying for the Bimbilla, Manhyia South and Abuakwa South seats respectively.

This is the 4th time Mr. Prempeh is seeking to become a Member of Parliament for that constituency.

Matthew Opoku Prempeh is the Minister of Education and Member of Parliament for Manhyia South

The party on April 14, 2020, suspended its planned April 25, 2020, parliamentary primaries indefinitely in accordance with the President’s ban on public gatherings in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic in Ghana.

Click here for the full list of aspirants cleared for the parliamentary primaries

Many parliamentary aspirants subsequently suspended their campaigns due to the decision.

Atta Kyea is Minister for Works and Housing and Member of Parliament for Akim Abuakwa South

But with the easing of some of the COVID-19 induced restrictions, some aspirants have resumed their campaigns.

The party seeks to use the primaries to elect parliamentary candidates in constituencies where it has sitting Members of Parliament, ahead of the 2020 general elections.

The party at a Steering Committee meeting held on Monday [June 1, 2020], however, agreed to hold the election in electoral areas rather than at the constituency level in order to ensure social distancing.

The June 20 primaries will be held in 168 constituencies across the country.

Disqualification brouhaha

There has been tension in some constituencies following the disqualification of some aspirants aiming to unseat incumbent Members of Parliament.

Some NPP delegates in the Juaben Constituency in the Ashanti Region have been protesting party executives decision to disqualify an aspirant, Francis Owusu, from the primaries without reason.

The delegates have threatened not to campaign for the party in the upcoming 2020 general elections if the decision is not reversed.

Some constituency executives believe the disqualification is a ploy to allow the incumbent MP, Ama Pomaa Boateng, to run unopposed.

Again, the Offinso South Constituency is tensed as some party’s supporters have vowed to resist any attempt by party executives to impose a candidate on them.

The aggrieved persons who marched through the streets of Offinso to the river Offin to perform a ritual called on the party leadership to allow all three aspirants to contest in order to ensure peace in the constituency.

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