A group of concerned members of the New Patriotic party (NPP) in the Ahafo Ano North constituency have threatened to go to court to restrain Mr. Richard Akuoko Adiyaah from representing the party at the parliamentary elections. Akuoko Adiyaah contested against four persons, including the sitting Member of Parliament, and emerged winner of the NPP primary held at Tepa recently, when he polled 81 votes. However, the group of concerned members still insist that he is not qualified to have contested the seat in the first place because he is not a registered voter. The other contestants in the race were Kingsley Nsiah-Poku (6 votes), Nana Akua Asantewa (4 votes), Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo (2 votes) and the sitting MP, Kwame Owusu Frimpong who polled 14 votes. The group also accused the constituency Executives of refusing to act on their complaints about threats on the Delegates at the venue of the elections. In a petition to the national chairman of the party and copied to the regional and constituency Chairmen, the group of 12 signatories including five women, pointed to Article 94 of the 1992 Constitution which states that any person who wishes to contest as a parliamentary candidate should be a registered voter, which provision is corroborated by Article 11 of the party's constitution. The petitioners indicated that Mr. Richard Adiyaah is not a registered voter at Dwaho, where he hails from and a further check from the national register confirms that he is not a registered voter. They argued that the parliamentary candidate does not even possess a voter's ID card that qualifies him to vote in any election. The aggrieved constituents based their findings and argument on the voters' register which was used for the 2004 General elections and the District Assembly election held in 2006. The petitioners have therefore called on the National Executive Committee of the party and the Electoral Commission to take the necessary steps to nullify the Tepa primary's result before they take action to restrain Akuoko Adiyaah from contesting the December elections on the ticket of the NPP. They believed Akuoko Adiyaah had intended to register as a voter if the registration exercise had opened in May as previously announced by the Electoral Commission which exercise was unfortunately postponed. As the registration did not come on, he is now in a fix and hoping that it would soon be re-opened. "As at now Adiyaa stands disqualified," they claimed. The signatories include Kwabena Agyemang, Charles Addei Bonsu, Thomas Sarbeng, Samuel Owusu Ansah, Augustina Serwaa, Akua Serwaa, Vida Kwarteng, Ama Serwaa, Naomi Pokua, Mallam Issah, Kwabena Appau Frimpong and Seth Nkrumah. Credit: The Chronicle