The New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Takoradi Constituency has been thrown into controversy following shocking revelations surrounding alleged fraudulent petitions filed during the party’s ongoing polling station elections process.
What initially appeared to be a routine internal electoral dispute has now exposed what many party faithful describe as one of the most embarrassing acts of political dishonesty and manipulation ever witnessed within the constituency.
At the centre of the controversy is the Takoradi Constituency Second Vice Chairperson of the NPP, Charles Arthur, popularly known within party circles as “Dada Cee,” whom many party members suspect to be the main architect behind a series of allegedly orchestrated and authored questionable petitions submitted on behalf of several polling station aspirants.
According to findings that emerged during investigations conducted at the constituency level, a staggering 134 petitions were allegedly prepared using almost identical wording and format, raising immediate suspicions about their authenticity and origin.
The most disturbing aspect of the scandal, however, was the discovery that many of the individuals whose names and signatures appeared on the petitions had no knowledge of the origin of such petitions filed in their names.
During the investigation process, several of the alleged petitioners were invited before the committee to verify the authenticity of the documents. Shockingly, approximately 95 percent of them reportedly admitted that they neither authored nor authorized any petitions to be written in their names.
Others reportedly expressed shock after discovering that signatures had allegedly been appended to documents without their consent.
Even more embarrassing for the petitioners’ camp was the revelation that some individuals whose names appeared on the petitions were not even aspirants in the NPP polling station elections. According to sources, some admitted before the committee that they had never applied to contest any position whatsoever within the New Patriotic Party.
The scandal took another dramatic turn when investigations allegedly uncovered pictures and evidence showing that some of the same individuals connected to the petitions had served as polling agents for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) during the 2024 general elections.
This revelation has left many loyal NPP members deeply outraged and questioning how individuals associated with the opposition party found themselves linked to petitions seeking to influence the internal electoral processes of the NPP.
Party faithful within the constituency have since described the development as a calculated attempt to infiltrate, manipulate, and destabilize the party’s internal democratic structures through fraudulent means.
The growing anger among grassroots members intensified after it emerged that the NPP Western Regional Executive Committee reportedly could not identify who exactly submitted or presented the petitions to the regional body.
Ironically, these were the same petitions upon which the Regional Executive Committee invited the Takoradi Constituency Executive Committee to appear and conduct investigations.
Many party members have described the situation as shocking and incomprehensible.
“How can a serious political party entertain over 100 petitions without even knowing who submitted them?” one angry party member, who mentioned his name as Charles, questioned.
The situation has further fueled suspicions that the petitions were part of a carefully coordinated political agenda designed to discredit the election process through dishonest and fraudulent tactics.
Following extensive investigations and verification exercises, the Takoradi Constituency Executive Committee eventually took what many observers describe as decisive and lawful action against the affected polling station aspirants.
According to the committee’s findings, several aspirants failed to fulfill basic requirements outlined under the party’s electoral guidelines.
Some reportedly printed their nomination forms online only, without satisfying other essential mandates.
Others failed to attend mandatory polling station meetings, which form part of the eligibility criteria for aspirants seeking to contest positions within the party structure.
Additionally, some of the affected aspirants reportedly failed to appear before the vetting committee during the official vetting process, despite being given the opportunity to do so.
Based on these violations and procedural failures, the Constituency Executive Committee moved to disqualify the affected aspirants in accordance with party regulations.
Party insiders insist the decisions were based strictly on facts, evidence, and due process—not political victimization, as some have attempted to portray.
Meanwhile, the alleged role of the Second Vice Chairperson, Charles Arthur, alias Dada Cee, in the petition controversy continues to generate intense debate and anger among party supporters across the constituency.
Many believe the scandal has severely damaged confidence in sections of the party leadership.
Grassroots members are now calling for a full-scale investigation into the authorship, circulation, and handling of the petitions to ensure accountability and restore trust within the party.
For many loyal party supporters in Takoradi, the scandal serves as a painful reminder of how internal political interests and desperation can threaten party unity and credibility if left unchecked.
As tensions continue to rise, one thing remains clear: the Takoradi Constituency petition scandal has become more than just an internal electoral disagreement. To many party faithful, it has become a test of integrity, transparency, and the ability of the NPP to protect its democratic processes from manipulation, fraud, and abuse from within.
Source: Kwame Malcolm/Empire FM, Takoradi
