NPP FACES CONFUSION (PAGE 42)

By George Folley Quaye, Wa

There is confusion in the Bole-Bamboi Constituency of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as three people have put up their posters as parliamentary candidates of the party.
They are the immediate past District Chief Executive of Bole, Mrs Elizabeth Salamatu Forgor, Miss Otiko Afisa Djaba, a Child Rights Activist and Mr Issahaque Kotomah, a former student leader.
A visit to Bole, Bamboi and some surrounding villages saw the posters of the three people side by side. The poster of Mr Adam Olando, another aspiring candidate, was however not there.
While the situation has sent shock waves into the rank and file of NPP supporters, their counterparts in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are beaming with smiles because “our candidate, S.A. Mahama, has one foot already in parliament”.
The Bole-Bamboi Constituency of the NPP has for sometime now been in turmoil following series of allegations that some constituency executives of the party schemed for Mrs Forgor, who was then the DCE, to be the sole candidate of the party.
This culminated in a series of petitions from Miss Djaba, Kotomah and Olandu.
One of the petitions alleged that some of the constituency executives kept the nomination forms secretly from the rest of the aspiring candidates, only for the former DCE to be declared the sole candidate of the party.
The petition therefore called for the re-opening of nominations to ensure fair play. However, the failure to respond to the request of the petitioners has led to the confusion within the party.
According to the constituency organiser of the party, Mr Brutu Abubakar Mahama, the three of them were not the recognised candidates.
He said, the constituency executive was waiting for the next line of action since the conduct of the three “parliamentary candidates” had been reported to the regional executive.
Meanwhile, Miss Otiko Afisa Djaba, has told The Mirror that, their action was to save the party in the constituency.
“We are waiting to see what happens and we hope the hierarchy of the party would re-open nominations,” she said.