Some electoral area coordinators of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Kpando Constituency of the Volta region are calling for the suspension of the constituency executives for alleged misappropriation of election logistics and funds.

According to them, items and money provided by the headquarters were not distributed equitably leading to the party’s abysmal performance in the 2024 general election.

Addressing the press in Kpando, spokesperson for the coordinators, Lawson Awudi Gadri said the continuous stay in office of the executives would be detrimental to the development and electoral fortunes of the NPP in Kpando.

“We demand the immediate suspension of the current constituency executives, specifically the constituency chairman Mr Fia Legacy Eric, secretary Dapaah Eric, and organizer Gallant Beli.
The continuous stay in office of these officers is a threat to the survival of the NPP in Kpando”, he said.

He also implored the national executives to conduct a thorough investigation into the deployment of polling agents on election day and the distribution of funds to the agents.

Mr. Gadri further called on the national hierarchy of the party to impress on the leadership of the NPP in the Kpando constituency including the parliamentary candidate and municipal chief executive to make available detailed accounts of the distribution of party logistics and funds.

“We equally call upon the national leadership of the NPP to impress upon our Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) Mr. Geoffrey Kojo Badasu, the Presiding Member of the Municipal Assembly Mrs. Ofori Atta Setorwu, and the Parliamentary Candidate of the party in the just-ended general elections, Mrs. Oklu Antoinette to provide a full and transparent account of all expenditures related to election day activities,” he said.

He asserted that the call for accountability would help restore faith among the angered party members who are disappointed in the party’s performance at the constituency and regional levels.
 
“Their loud silence and refusal to talk about issues is unacceptable. We cannot afford to see the political fortunes of our party dwindle further due to mismanagement, arrogance, and abuse of power by few in leadership positions in this Constituency”, he said.

The NPP recorded a significant drop in votes in the 2024 general elections in the Kpando constituency. It polled 2,211 of total votes against 3,682 in 2020.

Mr. Gadri lamented there was a shortfall of polling agents when only two were deployed instead of the mandatory 6.

He also added that these agents were selected without the consultation of electoral coordinators and were assigned to stations where their names were not on electoral rolls, resulting in some agents not being able to cast their votes due to distance.

He also mentioned the lack of coordination in implementing the “Go Out To Vote” policy, aimed at urging electorates to participate in the general elections.

Mr. Gadri added that 'Gotv' coordinators were empowered to overshadow electoral area coordinators while funds
provided for the operations of the policy “were either not made available to mobilizers or mismanaged by coordinators on D-day.”

He said that polling agents were multitasked as they were appointed as Gotv mobilizers and deployed away from where they registered as voters.
 
He outlined that the polling agents were not fed well which affected the delivery of their mandates on the election day.

“Meals served on the D-day were poor in terms of quality and quantity. Instead of three meals for the day, some polling stations had only breakfast at 11 in the morning, and the rest were served breakfast and lunch No supper was prepared for agents”, he lamented.

Mr. Gadri also indicated that funds meant for electoral area coordinators were never released during the election, explaining that the unfortunate incident affected the effective mobilization of the coordinators.