A flagbearer hopeful of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Sylvester Mensah has described as “fundamentally” inappropriate for executives of the party to declare their support for individuals in the scramble for the party’s flagbearer position.
The comments of the former CEO of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) were in sharp contrast to those of the General Secretary of the largest opposition party Johnson Asiedu Nketia.
Addressing a press conference Thursday, August 2 to officially announce the opening of nominations for persons seeking to lead the NDC into the 2020 elections, Mr Nketia stated there was nothing wrong with executives of the party declaring openly their support for any of the aspirants.
To buttress his statement, he argued that it was their inalienable right to do so.
Mr Mensah, however, disagreed, warning it would not augur well for the party.
“I think that the National Executives, Regional Executives, Constituency Executives are supposed to be impartial, they are supposed umpires, they are supposed to be referees, they are supposed to be seen as neutral people managing the campaign and election process,” he told Starr News’ Ibrahim Alhassan.
He continued, “…Whether as a Constituency body or as an individual, I think that it is challenging to find an individual or the constituency putting their weight openly and publicly behind an individual. I think that will be a little problematic.”
“I want to believe that there’s something fundamentally wrong with a position that allows an executive of the party to openly declare support for an aspirant. I think that it is not proper,” he asserted.
He, however, believed that there was nothing untoward for NDC Members of Parliament to throw their weight on former President John Mahama.
“It is fairly legitimate for any Member of Parliament to declare support for an aspirant. It happens the world over. It is a legitimate thing to do,” stated Mr Mensah.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
