A Constituency Executive Member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the New Juaben South constituency has reacted to a newspaper publication saying that Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, Gabby Otchere-Darko could be a compromise candidate to contest the seat on the party's ticket. A Daily Dispatch publication on Tuesday, February 22,2011 had written a political desk analysis and mentioned Mr. Otchere-Darko, whose father comes from Koforidua as a compromise 2012 parliamentary candidate for the NPP after it revealed sharp differences among constituency executive members. The report said the constituency executive members had openly declared their support either for incumbent NPP MP, Beatrice Boateng or the former First Vice Chairman of the constituency, Michael Oteng Adu who resigned his position to contest the party's primary. According to the report, the constituency chairman Mr. Agyena-Sarpong who is allegedly backing Adu had vowed to 'destool' the incumbent MP and had have given him his full support. The constituency executive member who did not want his name mentioned admitted that there is obvious division among two of the candidates but it is not time for Mr. Otchere-Darko to come and create further problems for the constituency. He described Otchere-Darko as a fine gentleman and true party person who should realize that it is not the time for "trial and error" in a key constituency like New Juaben South. "We need a massive win in New Juaben south in 2012 because in 2008 the party really disappointed Nana Akufo-Addo by allowing the NDC to close the gap on the NPP," he said. "In 2004, we had almost 40,000 vottes while NDC had around 16,000 but in 2008 our votes dropped to around 34,000 while NDC increased their votes to around 23,000 and this was as a result of the vicious campaign that characterized the 2007 party primary," he added. The executive member said 2012 is so crucial for the NPP especially in the Eastern region where Nana Addo lost over 40,000 votes that the party could not afford to repeat similar mistakes by putting up "unpopular" candidates. He said the 40,000 votes lost in the Eastern region could have given Nana Akufo-Addo the presidency so the party should be careful no to toy with the selection of parliamentary candidates in the region. He noted that even though it is a fact that a true compromise candidate is needed for the constituency, it should be somebody who is already well known in the area and has been with the people all these years. The executive member said amongst the three interested candidates, he sees Dr Assibey Yeboah, a lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) as the right compromise candidate who could best serve the party's interests and maximize its votes in the 2012 elections. "Dr Assibey Yeboah is a young man who can easily identify himself with the majority of voters who are within the 18-40 age bracket," he indicated. Source: Daily Guide