Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Mustapha Gbande, says the New Patriotic Party’s Assin-North Parliamentary Candidate Aspirant, Charles Opoku, holds no allegiance to the constituency he hopes to represent in parliament.

He based his assertion on the fact that Charles Opoku is not a registered voter in the Assin-North constituency.

“This is a man who is going to be asking for votes if he wins the NPP primaries but [he] does not vote to count the total number of people who will win that election or will not win that election. It’s neither here nor there,” he said on JoyNews’ PM Express.

His comment comes on the back of an allegation by the NDC that the NPP and the Electoral Commission are in cahoots to import the name of Charles Opoku into the Assin-North register illegally.

Both the EC and the NPP have debunked the allegation with the NPP describing it as spurious and baseless.

According to the NPP, the constitution does not bar Charles Opoku, an indigene of Assin-North, from contesting for the Assin-North parliamentary seat even though he is not registered to vote there.

“Their claim that the NPP is seeking to transfer the name of a registered voter to the Assin North register to qualify him to contest in the parliamentary by-election actually betrays the NDC’s appreciation of Article 94(1)(a) of the 1992 Constitution. Article 94(1)(a) does not require a parliamentary candidate to be registered in the constituency they wish to contest to be viable,” the NPP argued.

However, Mustapha Gbande says the fact that he does not vote in that constituency shows he has no allegiance to the community.

He further argues that the ruling government is desperate to ride on the goodwill of Charles Opoku in order to win the seat due to their failure to develop the area.

“The fact is that clearly if you’re talking about the issues of allegiance, that you’re bringing a total stranger to a constituency where he does not vote and your argument is that suddenly Nana B and his government have lost popularity that they are now having to ride [on] the popularity of a person who does not vote in a constituency to be able to win a seat. So this is a very low conversation from the side of the NPP and government.

“He makes a case that Nana B and his government are presenting a candidate who has no legal allegiance to the constituency. He does not vote there. He does not add up to the numbers of the people who take decisions for the constituency.

“And that they’re just bringing him because they found deficiency in their government, they’re not working, they have no track record to follow, and that ‘let’s go and fish out for somebody who does well for the constituency, somebody who has been doing good and sharing things for the people in the constituency to come and represent us,’ meanwhile the person doesn’t vote there. So what is the possibility of the person’s allegiance to the people of Assin-North?” he said.