The Sunyani East Constituency Executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have expressed their dismay at a statement made by the General Secretary of the party, Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, to the effect that his outfit has not officially received results of the Saturday parliamentary primary in the constituency.
According to them, after the counting of the votes and results declared, Mr. George Gyabaah, Municipal Electoral Commission told them that he handed over the results to the Director of Elections, Mr. Samuel Tettey in Accra.
At a press conference in Accra on June 16, 2015, Mr. Agyepong emphatically stated that the national headquarters has formally received the actual results as declared by the Electoral Commission in the various constituencies, except those from Sunyani East and Gomoa East.
Speaking at a press conference at the constituency office, the chairman, Mr. Frank Musah Damtarl said the import of Mr. Agyepong’s statement sought to portray that MP for the area, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, was not validly elected at the primary, which was held at the Pastoral Centre.
He stressed that the election peacefully went the full length, votes counted and results officially declared by the Municipal Electoral Commissioner in favour of the sitting Member of Parliament, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh.
Mr. Musah Damtarl declared that the scenario being painted by the General Secretary can only be described as totally wrong, flawed, mischievous and malicious; adding that as per the general rule of the primary, the incumbent MP, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh was validly elected by the majority of the delegates.
He said the constituency executives do not want to engage in any media war with anyone on the party’s internal affairs, but the issues at stake demands that the executives come out to set the records straight. The constituency chairman stated that after the elections, the certified results were submitted to the Brong-Ahafo Regional Electoral Commission of Ghana in the evening.
He continued that the certified results so submitted by the Municipal Electoral Commission to the Regional Director, was signed by Apraku Tuffour, the agent of the defeated candidate, John Bugri, agent of the winner of the election as well as Mr. Yaw Opoku, the Municipal Electoral Commissioner who presided over the elections.
Explaining further, Mr. Musah Damtarl said none of the agents of the two candidates challenged the results so declared by the Electoral Commission at the Pastoral Centre Polling Station.
According to the constituency chairman, the Brong-Ahafo regional Electoral Commissioner, Mr. George Gyabaah has made it known publicly that he personally handed over the entire election results of the Brong-Ahafo region including Sunyani East to the Director of Elections, Mr. Samuel Tettey in Accra, who also confirmed that all the results from the region have been transmitted to the NPP’s Headquarters in Accra.
He said it, therefore, came as a huge surprise to the constituency executives, when Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyapong revealed at his press conference that the party had not received results of the constituency’s parliamentary primary, which declared Mr. Ameyaw-Cheremeh as the winner.
The chairman hinted that per the information given, it is clear that Mr. Agyapong and the Director of Elections of NPP, Mr. Martin Agyei Korsah, are being economical with the truth. He called on the rank and file of NPP and Ghanaians as a whole to recognize Mr. Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh as the candidate elect for Sunyani East Constituency as declared by the Electoral Commission.
He noted that it is the position of his executives that the General Secretary and the NPP’s Director of Elections have no authority to exclude the certified results of Sunyani East Constituency by the EC from the overall NPP Parliamentary Primaries Elections conducted on the June 13, 2015. Mr. Damtarl urged the General Secretary and the Director of Elections to consult the party’s legal team on such matters before issuing statements since the matter at hand is purely a legal issue.
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