Avoid apathy ahead of 2024 Elections – Ayikoi Otoo to NPP

NPP Chairman Aspirant, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Nii Ayikoi Otoo has cautioned the rank and file of Ghana’s governing party ahead of their Constituency Elections to avoid from acts that will work against the party in the crucial 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.

According to the former Ghana’s Ambassador to Canada, the party’s Polling Station Executives elections were characterized with some pocket of incidents which gave the party bad press.

“As a Chairman Aspirant of the NPP, I have followed with keen interest the fallout from the party’s internal elections for party executives held throughout the country concerning Polling stations and Electoral Area Coordinators.

“I have seen on social media, affected candidates swearing to vote with their feet in 2024. Several appeals have also been lodged before the Party’s National Elections Appeals Committee set up at the Headquarters, a Committee I have personally served on in the past. In extreme cases, some have taken their cases to Court,” he disclosed.

In a statement, Mr. Otoo stated that those who cried foul during the Polling Station elections pointed to inequitable application of the Rules/Regulations for the contest.

“Some alleged that they were denied Nomination Forms, others complained of their filed Nomination Forms getting missing on the day of the elections, or some being disqualified without just cause and the worst form of irregularity being Selection of Officers and not Election of Candidates.

“Party politics, it is said is about numbers and therefore everything humanly possible ought to be done to avoid party members and sympathizers resorting to apathy after the elections,” the Legal Practitioner advised.

He reiterated the need for the Party to avoid things that would prevent the party from getting a clear majority in Parliament after the 2024 elections.

“As part of my manifesto for the Chairmanship bid, I promise that when elected, I shall ensure that Rules/Regulations fashioned for the purpose as well as their implementation are applied fairly and equitably to make it possible for all those ready and willing to contest for positions in the Party at all levels. This is my view will lead to inclusiveness and surely avoid apathy.

“Since we are now moving to the election of Constituency, Regional and National Officers, I call on managers of the process to avoid indulging in practices that will lead to politics of exclusion and apathy”.