The Council of Elders of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ashanti Region has started a mediation process to curb the fad of independent candidates contesting parliamentary candidates of the party in some of the constituencies.
At a high-level meeting in Kumasi, the Council of Elders met the NPP parliamentary candidate for Asokwa Constituency, Madam Patricia Appiah Agyei, and Divine Osei-Mintah, an independent candidate for the same constituency, where the latter agreed to step down for the incumbent.
Declaring at the event that he had pulled out of the Asokwa parliamentary election, Osei-Mintah said he had been advised about his candidature in the upcoming election, and as result of that, he had stepped down.
He underscored that Asokwa was their constituency and that they needed to smoke the peace pipe. However, he expressed worry about foul language from the camp of Mama Pat, which, he said, must be stopped.
On her side, Madam Patricia Appiah Agyei, who is better known as Mama Pat and doubles as Deputy Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, welcomed the decision from Osei-Mintah as positive.
Mama Pat noted that the decision to protect the peaceful atmosphere in Asokwa Constituency was so refreshing and touching, because Asokwa is where they belong.
Reacting to the assertion from Divine Osei-Mintah that her camp had been using foul language against her opponent, Mama Pat acknowledged it.
Welcoming the development, the Chairman of the Ashanti Regional NPP Council of Elders, Rev Mark Adu Gyamfi, hailed the two factions for smoking the peace pipe.
This, he noted, would go a long way in discouraging independent candidates in the Ashanti Region. However, he indicated that it was left with one independent candidate – Eric Osei – who they were still talking to. “We shall go [to every] nook and cranny of the constituencies in the region to see to it that we all vote massively for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to continue developing Ghana, which will help the unborn generations,” Rev Mark Adu Gyamfi said at the meeting.
Independent candidates are emerging in the Ashanti Region, especially in the Bekwai, Asokwa, Atwima Nwabiagya North, and Adansi South constituencies.
In attendance at the meeting were J.K. Osei, Kwame Antwi-Frempong , Nana Ofosu-Boateng , Alhaji Haruna Bay, Mary Duodu, Georgina Boakye Yiadom, E.R. Adjei, Nana Adwoa Nyarko, Kwadwo Adu, Nana Wiafe, and Nana Adu-Nti.
The post NPP Council of Elders starts arbitration to halt independent candidates craze appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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