Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, NPP, Nana Akufo Addo has thrown his weight behind a decision by the National Executive Committee, NEC of the party to allow only females to contest incumbent female Parliamentarians of the party.
“I support the decision of the national executives“, Akufo Addo said at the Central University College where he attended a lecture delivered by his running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
The decision by NEC is proving unpopular amongst some members of the party with calls for it to be abolished. Some party members stormed the NPP headquarters on Tuesday to protest against the move.
But the NPP flagbearer insisted, “the leadership of any party is required to make difficult decisions and this is one of them.”
“Sometimes, these decisions are ones that will have some spill outs. For the time being, that is the decision of the party ad I am entreating our party members to respect it”, he stated.
He said “the party has all kinds of reasons for the decision it took.”
Asked whether the move does not infringe on the rights of male members of the party who wish to contest in Constituencies with incumbent female MPs, Akufo Addo said “I don’t think that anyone can deny the democratic commitment of this party. We have led the struggle for democracy in Ghana. Not for just one or two years but for sixty to seventy years” the NPP flag bearer noted.
“I believe the party was making a statement about affirmative action. That was basically the statement that was being made, that there was the need for supporting the gender development in our national politics.” the veteran politician pointed out.
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