Ahead of the parliamentary primaries serious trouble is brewing in the Western North NPP party, as some party stalwarts accuse the party’s vetting committee of reducing standards to allow an unsuitable candidate to go through.
According to sources at Sefwi Bekwai, the conduct of the National Parliamentary Vetting Committee (NPVC) Zone 4 has the potential of costing the party at least one parliamentary seat in the highly contested region.
The basis of this claim, according to them, is due to the fact that the vetting committee failed to adequately pursue information before it that one aspirant could be potentially disqualified in future from contesting.
Explaining the position, a source at Sefwi Wiawso said that on Wednesday 26th of February 2020 they heard on Asempa FM afternoon show that one Mawuto Amudzi had petitioned the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) against the former Managing Director of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST), calling for investigations into allegations of corruption and abuse of office.
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The source said that under Article 94 of the 1992 Constitution a person found guilty of corruption and abuse of office cannot become a Member of Parliament.
Therefore upon hearing that somebody had petitioned CHRAJ against Mr. Alfred Obeng, one Richard Mensah Gyapong petitioned the Chairman, National Parliamentary Vetting Committee (NPVC), Zone 4, Sefwi Wiawso, Western Region, seeking to have Alfred Boateng disqualified because he was under investigation by CHRAJ.
It was the case of Gyapong that Article 3 (4A) (3) of the Constitution that a member shall be disqualified from holding public office or contesting any election in the party if he or she… has been found by a report of a commission or committee of inquiry to be either incompetent to hold public office or to have acquired assets unlawfully or defrauded the State or abused his office or acted against the interest of the state.
He said that in Article 94 2(d) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, it states that, “A person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he… has been found by a report of a commission or a committee of inquiry to be either incompetent to hold a public office or be a person in respect of whom a commission or committee of inquiry has found that while being a public officer he acquired assets unlawfully and defrauded the State or misused or abused his office or willfully acted in a manner prejudicial to the interest of the state, and the findings have not been set aside on appeal or judicial review.”
Gyapong further stated that it is all over the media, both mainstream media and social media, that a public-spirited individual, Ms. Samuel Mawutor Amudzi of Accra has petitioned CHRAJ to investigate Mr. Alfred Obeng Boateng on allegations of corruption and abuse of office while he was working at BOST as Managing Director.
Gyapong further said that Obeng had filed the necessary documents seeking to be elected / selected as the Parliamentary Candidate of the NPP for the 2020 General Elections in the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai Constituency.
Gyapong said that given the facts thus far, if Mr. Obeng were to be cleared by the vetting committee to contest the 2020 parliamentary primaries and he were to win to become the official candidate of the party, a problem would be created if CHRAJ were to find him guilty.
“The NPP will not have a candidate for the 2020 General Elections in the Bibiani-Anhwiaso Constituency,” he said.
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The source said that in spite of the fact that the original petition and the petition from Gyapong were before the committee, they dealt with it in a very cavalier and offhand manner.
“When Alfred Obeng appeared before the Committee headed by Mr. F. F. Anto, with an individual like Frank Davies and Mr. Kweku Ofori Asiamah, and representatives from the National, Regional and Constituency Executives, they did not take the petitions into consideration,” the source said.
He said that the Committee only showed Mr. Obeng a copy of the petition to CHRAJ and asked him if he knew of it, to which Mr. Obeng said that he had heard in the media that such a petition had been presented to CHRAJ.
He said that effectively that was all that the committee did in satisfying itself as to whether the petition can have grave effects on the future viability of the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai parliamentary seat of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
“The risk is therefore still hanging. If he goes through vetting and somehow wins to become the parliamentary candidate, and files with the EC, but is found guilty by CHRAJ, it means that effectively the NPP would be without a candidate at Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai constituency,” the source said.
