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There are mixed feelings in the Klottey Korle Constituency in the Greater Accra Region of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) regarding the rerun of the party’s parliamentary primary.

This follows a final decision taken by the party for a rerun of the disputed primary in the constituency on February 27, ahead of the 2016 election in November.

In the constituency, there has been misunderstanding about whether or not a rerun is to take place.
While some delegates believe that there should be a rerun of the party’s election that was held in August last year, others think otherwise.

Additionally, some members of the party within the constituency believe that a decision by the court states that there should be a rerun. However, others think that has been misinterpreted, causing the steering committee of the party to order a rerun for peace to prevail in the area.

Aspirants

The aspirants are Mr Valentino Nii Noi Nortey, Mr Phillip Kojo Addo Addison and Samuel Nii Adjei Tawiah.

It will be recalled that Mr Valentino Nii Noi Nortey polled 393 votes to beat Mr Philip Kojo Addo Addison and Samuel Nii Adjei Tawiah, who managed to garner 22 and 19 votes, respectively, in the party’s primary held on August 2, 2015 at its headquarters.

This was after the primary in the area had been postponed several times due to protracted issues among the main contenders.

Even through the election was boycotted by Mr Addison and Nii Adjei Tawiah for lack of transparency, the Electoral Commission (EC) went ahead to hold the primary that day.

This brought about a lot of confusion and misunderstanding among the rank and file of the party in the constituency, causing Mr Addison to take the issue to court.

Rerun of primary

Last week, the steering committee of the party ordered a rerun of the parliamentary primary in the Klottey Korle Constituency, following months of controversy over its fairness.

The party’s decision comes after it agreed with the parties to withdraw the case from court.

Announcing the decision, the acting General Secretary, Mr John Boadu, told anxious party supporters the rerun was necessary if peace was to prevail in the constituency.

This, however, does not seem to sit well with the supporters of Nii Noi Nortey, who accused the acting National Chairman, Mr Freddie Blay, of backing Nii Noi Nortey’s contender, Mr Phillip Addison.

Pursuant to that, Nii Noi Nortey vowed after last week’s decision by the steering committee of the party not to participate in “any sham rerun”.

Election likely to come on

However, the Daily Graphic can confirm after speaking to the main contenders, including Nii Noi Nortey, that the election is likely to come off even though a date is yet to be fixed.

A special aid to Nii Noi Nortey, Mr Prince Kissi Yeboah, in an interview, stated that “after various consultations with sections of the constituents, chiefs and opinion leaders in the party, Nii Noi Nortey, reconsidering his decision to rerun”.

While admitting that the decision was a difficult one, especially for his (Nii Noi Nortey’s) supporters to take, Mr Yeboah noted that he believed that Nii Noi Nortey would take a decision in the best interest of the NPP.

But Mr Yeboah was quick to add that Nii Noi Nortey was firm at the grass roots of the party in the constituency due to his relationship with them.

“Nii Noi Nortey has brought the youth and all the people in the constituency together, reaching those on the other side of the political divide, and has been holding regular meetings with them, a clear indication that he is for the people,” Mr Kissi added.

He, therefore, affirmed Nii Noi Nortey’s decision to win the primary should it be held again.

Let’s correct the wrong

Making some contribution Mr Tawiah said the wrong had been created, hence the need to correct that as soon as possible.

“The election was organised on our blindside after the vice chairperson and first vice chair connived with Nii Noi Nortey to hold the election despite our agitations,” he said.  

He explained that Nii NoiNortey  had issues with his certificates and his claim of coming from Osu, while there was evidence to the effect that some of the electorate who voted in the August 2 primary were not from the constituency.

For peace to prevail within the NPP in the area, Mr Tawiah stressed the need for the election to be rerun to satisfy all the parties involved.

Meanwhile, Mr Addison has told the Daily Graphic that he will only speak to the core issue after the rerun and indicated that he will be actively involved in the election.

Need for consensus building

Admitting that the decision by the steering committee for a rerun was in the best interest of the party, the First Vice Chair in the constituency, Alhaji Aliu Kabe, said the electorate could not swallow that hook, line, and sinker.

In his view, there should be a consensus building for all the supporters of the party in the constituency to understand before any election could be held.

What ought to be done, according to him, was for the steering committee to assist the executive in the constituency to bring the main contenders together and jaw-jaw to reach an amicable solution.

Alhaji Kabe also emphasised that the election, which was organised on August 2 was legitimate, and that it was clear that the electorate were in the boat of Nii Noi Nortey.

In what seemed to be shifting to the side of Nii Noi Nortey, Alhaji Kabe indicated that the constituents were all calling for him.

“In my opinion, Nii Noi Nortey is who the constituents are crying for and I think it’ll be the best decision to allow him to go,” he said.

Nkwanta South

In another primary case, this time in  the Nkwanta South Constituency in the Volta Region, voting did not take place during the June 13 nationwide primaries as a result of some issues that needed to be tackled.

 But that hurdle has now been cleared paving the way for the primary to take place soon.