Anthony Karbo, NPP National Youth Organiser
Barely 48 hours to its national delegates congress, some members of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Tertiary Education Students Confederacy (TESON) of the University of Ghana, Legon, Today has discovered, are seething with anger.
According to the students, they will resist attempts by the leadership of the NPP to bar their president and representative in the Saturday’s presidential nomination – Ernest Owusu Kumi from voting.
“It is clearly an orchestrated attempt to deny TESCON and our president from voting because of the erroneous impression that he is an Alan boy. But tell me, gentleman, who among the delegates would not vote for one of the five candidates. So what is wrong with Kumi voting for Alan, granted even that the allegation is true?” an irate TESCON member queried.
The paper discovered from investigations that one of such group of NPP delegates, whose representative is likely to be left out of the much anticipated presidential nomination, is Ernest Owusu Kumi, the President of the Legon TESCON, a student wing of the NPP.
Our findings revealed that the hierarchy of the NPP has nullified the election of Mr. Owusu Kumi, with the excuse that his election was fraught with lots of electoral malpractices.
Though, Mr. Owusu Kumi, as per the NPP’s amended constitution, is expected to vote, it appears under the current arrangement, he would be denied that opportunity or perhaps head for the court at the last hour to seek interpretation of the party’s constitution on his position.
However, Anthony Karbo, the National Youth Organiser of the NPP in an interview with Today corroborated the report, stressing that “the decision was taken in the interest of the party.”
He explained that as result of the nullification of the election, an Interim Management Committee (IMC), has been set up to temporarily manage the affairs of the group until a fresh election was called.
“And per the constitution of the party, none of the members of the IMC qualifies to vote in the election; so it is clear that the Legon TESCON president would have to wait for another time.
… I think this is very unfortunate but there is nothing the party could do except to bar him from exercising his franchise.”
In a reaction to Karbo’s claims, Owusu Kumi brushed them aside, saying “I was a victim of a grand plot by some people who perceived me was an Alan boy and that my office would be a threat to their political ambition.”
He, however, insisted that he will turn up at the polling station to cast his ballot on Saturday as he was yet to be informed about the nullification.
“My brother as I speak to you now nobody has formally written or come to me with the information that I cannot represent my group; so for me, I will be going to cast my ballot,” adding that “I am really surprised at the way my own people are treating me.”
STORY: KWEKU NTI, UNIVERSITY OF GHANA INTERN
