Reliable information coming to our news desk indicates that the Greater Accra Regional Chairman and some of his executives are on a secret romance with the first time MPs in the region pushing heaven and earth to have them retained in most instances against the wishes of the delegates, majority of whom have made up their minds already.
This comes as a surprise when the NDC touts itself as the foremost democratic political party in Ghana with a rich democratic history.
Ashie More’s recent alleged attempt to coerce constituency party executives to openly declare their support to some of these first time MPs in the region in the name of ironing differences has been described as a grand scheme to subvert the democratic will of the party’s branch executives in the region. We cannot tell if the regional chairman and his team are not being guided by history and recent events.
The NPP in recent history went the path of seeking to protect individuals in the party’s parliamentary elections and that rather spelled doom for the NPP. They lost several seats as these persons who were thought to be popular had lost touch with the party’s base. This bruised the party’s base and morale for retaining the seats. The NPP lost eventually to the NDC. It appears a similar fate may be befalling the NDC with the alleged weak protectionism agenda by Ashie More in the Greater Accra Region.
The fact is that most of these first time MPs have lost touch with the base of the party and in the Constituency generally in the region. One cannot tell whether the ongoing alleged romance and trading engagements going on between Ashie More and these MPs is what is influencing his actions. Is it true that some contributions were made for Ashie More to help him offset part of his bills incurred in the recently held regional elections of the party? Could that, among others, be influencing the Chairman to blindly lead the party in the region into the ditch by clearly losing and reducing the number of NDC parliamentary seats in the region?
It appears Ashie More does not believe in the use of democratic structures and processes in addressing challenges in the region. There is a lot we have been privy to which is telling on the future of the Greater Accra NDC if democratic processes are stepped aside to protect MPs who have already lost appeal on the grounds.
Our intel suggests that Ashie More and his team are bent on using schemes including pushing the date for the parliamentary primary elections in the Greater Accra Region further from 13th May as prescribed by the National Executive Committee of the NDC. The thinking for this intention is to create more time for the ever-growing unpopular and weak first time MPs to make amends with the base – same MPs who have already been rejected by the base in the clearest of terms.
Again, we have picked intelligence that the Greater Accra Region intends to slap a developmental levy to the tune of a whopping GHC 30,000 on the aspirants – all, to threaten aspirants who want to contest the sitting MPs. This idea appears to have been mooted with the protection of the already unpopular first time MPs. This will be paid in addition to the GHC 5,000 for picking of forms and GHC 40,000 for filing of forms. This is serious.
What we have gathered on the grounds is that any attempt to sabotage the democratic processes by Ashie More and his gang of regional executives may be met fiercely on the grounds which may lead to chaos and unsettled tension for the party in the region. The more the delay in holding the elections in the Greater Accra Region, the shorter the time gets for healing and consolidation after the internal parliamentary primary elections.
One thing is however clear; that, the NDC branch executives across board want a competitive, free and fair democratic elections in the region. This is what will energise party members to believe in the outcome of the primaries and aid faster the healing and reconciliation process.
More soon . . .
Good points ty
