Audio By Carbonatix
The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is organizing primaries to select parliamentary candidates for the yet-to-be-legalized 45 newly created constituencies in some parts of the country.
The process which started yesterday saw the elections of some candidates in the Volta region.
In the Ashanti region, out of the eight constituencies created, only Asante Akim central and Sekyere Afram Plains will witness a contest as the rest will only undertake acclamation.
Ashanti Regional Secretary of the NDC, Joseph Yamin told Joy News’ Elton Brobbey the process should be over by 3pm today.
He said given that the Constitutional Instrument that will give legal backing to the creation of the constituencies will not mature until the end of September, “…we are putting ourselves in readiness…and have candidates in readiness so that when CI becomes law, immediately we do not have a problem of going through the constituencies to elect candidates.”
In the Central Region, primaries are taking place at the Cape Coast North and the Awutu Senya East constituencies to select parliamentary candidates.
In the Northern Region, correspondent Clement Boateng reported that despite threats by disqualified candidates in the Sagnarigu constituency to place an injunction on the process, the election was going on.
He said electoral officers say they had not been served with any injunction.
So how is the opposition New Patriotic Party taking this decision of the NDC to select parliamentary candidates in the new constituencies when the CI has yet to mature in Parliament?
NPP General Secretary Kwadwo Owusu Afrieyie told Elton Brobbey the party will wait for the final outcome of the CI currently before Parliament before taking any decision on the matter.
He said apart from the CI legitimizing the creation of the constituencies which was yet to mature in Parliament, some private citizens had gone to court challenging the propriety of the creation of the constituencies and wondered why in the face of all of that, the governing NDC was going ahead with its primaries.
“For us, we will not be rushing to take this hasty decision as the NDC appears to be doing. We also note that there are people who have already gone to gone court; Afari Gyan recognizes that he has been sued in respect of these matters; why do we pre-empt the outcome of legal processes”? he asked.
He said it was unfortunate that the EC Chairman and the NDC were forcing the 45 new constituencies down the throats of Ghanaians.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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