FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TARKWA-NSUAEM CONSTITUENCY NPP MEMBERS DESERVE AN APOLOGY
(TARKWA, 11th April, 2023) Our attention has been drawn to an audio recording from a ‘Health Walk’ organized by the Hon George Mireku Duker (the sitting Member of Parliament for Tarkwa Nsuaem Constituency) in which an Executive of the Western regional NPP branch was loudly heard saying that the current MP is the flagbearer for the constituency for 2024 elections.
Just a week ago, the National Executive Committee released a timetable for the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections. On the timetable, the opening of nominations for constituencies with sitting MPs is on the 20th of December 2023 with the elections scheduled for 24th of February 2024.
It is, therefore, very disturbing that the Western Regional Executives seem to have already chosen a winner for an election that has not been held yet.
There are over 1,000 delegates in the constituency and it is up to them to choose a leader for the constituency. It is, therefore, an insult to all these people if the flagbearer has been chosen already by the regional team even without consent.
His statement is also an insult to the National Executive Committee who came up with the timeline for our internal elections.
The imposition of candidates on the delegates is one of the major reasons which made us lose so many seats in the 2020 elections, and we were told that the new National Executives will not repeat such a mistake.
Our response to the Western Regional chairman (Executive body) is very simple,
When did the Tarkwa Nsuaem delegates vote to elect or confirm Hon. George Mireku Duker as our leader for the 2024 elections?
Was he speaking on his own behalf or on behalf of his Executives?
As a Regional Chairman, he may be part of the vetting committee. How sure are we that the committee will not disqualify all other candidates since by his pronouncement he has already chosen the winning candidate for us?
Hon. George Mireku Duker is the most unpopular NPP parliamentary candidate in the history of TARKWA NSUAEM. In 2020, he almost made us lose a seat which has been a safe seat for decades for the NPP.
In 2020, our Presidential candidate H.E Nana Addo Danquah received 11,000 more votes than Hon. Mireku Duker.
Our parliamentary candidate won the 2020 elections with just 34.43 percent of vote caste (lowest in our history) and ONLY by 98 VOTES against his NDC competitor. This is a seat that the NPP used to win with an excess of 8,000 votes during the time of Hon. Gifty Kusi (Former NPP Member of Parliament).
Why have the Regional Executives decided to impose such an unpopular candidate on us? It is suicidal and embarrassing and we will not tolerate this disregard for the laws and bye-laws of our Party and democracy.
We wish to call on the Regional Chairman to apologize to all the delegates in the Tarkwa Nsuaem constituency and also to the National Executive Committee of our dear Party.
We also wish to state categorical that it is the noble and civic responsible of delegates to select flagbearers for the Presidential and Parliamentary elections and no one must be seen to be interfering in this noble exercise.
If Hon. George Mireku Duker is really the person that the delegates want, they will decide on the 24th of February 2024.
We shall RESIST all attempts to impose candidates on us, especially when those candidates are so unpopular and seen as arrogant by the majority of people in the Constituency,
NPP is for all of us. it is not the personal property of any individual or group.
The leadership in NPP is not a chieftaincy or royalty to be inherited or given to individuals by mere act of public declaration.
If the Hon. George Mireku Duker wish to be re-elected as a Member of Parliament for the Constituency, he must be BOLD ENOUGH to go through the democratic processes required of all aspirants.
Signed
Dr Joseph Kofi Gyanteh
Member NPP Tarkwa Nsuaem Constituency
(+233 55 383 0925)
Copied
– General Secretary NPP
– National chairman NPP
– Director, Legal Affairs Directorate of NPP
– NPP Chairman, Western Region
– NPP Chairman, Tarkwa Nsuaem Constituency
– All media houses
