The Election Committee of Manhyia South Constituency of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has disqualified a Civil Servant working with the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) from contesting for the constituency chairmanship position.

Owusu Sekyere who works as a Technician Engineer at the KMA filed to contest for the position but was disqualified following a petition filed by the  Ashanti Regional First Vice Chairman of the NPP, Kwabena Nsenkyire.

This allows his main contender, Richard Adjei Mensah Ofori Atta, popularly known as ‘Tom Tom’ to go unopposed in the constituency elections in Manhyia South.

Petition

In his petition to the Chairman of the Constituency Elections Committee, Kwabena Nsenkyire said  Owusu Sekyere fell within Civil Service regulations and state laws that barred Civil Servants from engaging in active politics including holding party positions.

“That the neutrality principle of the Civil Service embedded in the laws of this state precludes any civil servant from partaking in partisan politics except he or she resigns.

"That Owusu Sekyere is still at post and currently on strike as a member of CLOSSAG. I, therefore, pray that your committee disqualifies him on the grounds aforementioned, ” the petition said.

Constitutional Provision

The Election Committee report stated that, per the 1992 Constitution, Owusu Sekyere who is a Civil Servant is proscribed from contesting for a political position.

“The Applicant is a worker at Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly as a Technician Engineer.  He is a Civil Servant. He is proscribed from contesting under Article 94 (3) of the 1992 Constitution,” the Election Committee stated in its report.

Signed by the chairman of the Committee, Dr Oheneba Owusu-Danso, the report cited the court case, Local Government Staff Association vs. Attorney General and 2 others ( Writ No. 11/16/2016 delivered on 14/6/2017 to buttress its position of disqualification of the applicant.

Other alleged infractions

According to Peacefmonline.com all the Constituency Executives, the six Electoral Area Coordinators, Patrons and Council of Elders of the Manhyia South Constituency of the NPP, signed a joint petition to the Election Committee indicating that they did not know the applicant as a party member in the constituency.

According to the petitioners, on record, Owusu Sekyere had never attended any party event.

Curiously, during his vetting, he took some supposed supporters from Atonsu to Manhyia South in a bid to hoodwink the  Committee members into believing that he had a strong support base in Manhyia South.

Owusu Sekyere is also alleged to have used a fake official receipt to show that he paid his party dues.

Consequently, the Manhyia South Constituency Communications Director of the party had reported the conduct of Owusu Sekyere to the Police CID for further investigation.