The members of a group calling itself the Ashanti Region New Patriotic Party (NPP) Grassroots Delegates Platform are blaming their Members of Parliament (MPs) who have grossly “betrayed the mandate of the grassroots” and are, therefore, cautioning them to desist from actions that would “not break the party before we all break the ‘8’.”
The group, which comprises the polling station executives of the party in the region, “observed that some MPs holding juicy appointments and contracts in this current administration have been moving from funeral to funeral and granting media interviews endorsing Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, as well as forcing down the throats of NPP polling station executives to accept him” as the flagbearer and the 2024 presidential candidate of the party.
Addressing a press conference at Bantama in Kumasi yesterday, Mr. Frederick Owusu, popularly called Ortega, the Convener who is also the Bantama Polling Stations Chairman, maintained that those MPs championing the cause of Dr. Bawumia are doing so for their “selfish gains, and are not the mouthpiece of the suffering polling stations executives of the party.”
“We want to state it unequivocally without any shred of doubt, that we, the grassroots delegates, stand united behind a presidential candidate who would be accepted by the people of Ghana. An ideal presidential candidate, who has [a] message of hope for the teeming unemployed youth, and the good people of Ghana.”
Ortega, who is also a former Communication Officer of the Bantama Constituency, said they were fully aware of an external cabal with tacit support from some greedy appointees in the government to thwart the larger collective interest of the grassroots members of the party.
He explained that all the aspirants for the position are committed and experienced members of the party, and deserve to become a flagbearer, but it was wrong for the MPs and some leading members of the party to force down the throat any aspirant on the polling station executives.
He said what the grassroots demand and required of their leaders was proper development, and to relook at the welfare issues at the grassroots, and not championing the selfish agenda of a particular individual in the party.
The Grassroots Delegates Platform, therefore, has warned that any “Member of Parliament who does not stay neutral in this presidential primary is at the greater risk of losing his seat during the parliamentary primaries,” and called on the leadership of the party “to stand firm and defend the suffering grassroots members.”
From Thomas Agbenyegah Adzey, Kumasi
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