Presidential candidate aspirant of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Poku is advocating an amendment of the party’s constitution to either bar an incumbent Vice-President from contesting the flagbearer position or have them resign prior to the contest.
According to him, the current provision of the constitution that allows a sitting Vice-President run for the party’s presidential candidacy without relinquishing his position is unfair and puts other contenders at a disadvantage.
“I’m running with hands behind my back. You cannot strip the Vice-President of his role as Vice-President if he is sitting and running. All ministers have to resign and run but the Vice-President,” he stated in an interview on JoyNews TV.
This, he asserted, is being manifested in the ongoing campaigns for the slot.
He said while the Vice-President has state resources at his disposal and is running his campaign smoothly, the other contenders including him are struggling to catch up.
Mr. Poku believes this is in contradiction of the democratic principles that require fairness in elections.
“He uses the logistics of the Vice-president and the presidency and he doesn’t basically pay for fuel, he doesn’t pay for anything and those things, the advantage that a sitting Vice-President has in running for office against some of us is unfair”.
He is, therefore, asking party leadership to review the constitution going forward.
Kwadwo Poku made the call ahead of the Special Delegates Conference of the NPP scheduled for tomorrow.
10 aspirants including the Vice-President will be slugging it out for a spot in the main presidential primary slated for November.
Already, accusations of vote-buying are flying against the Vice-President.
Failed National Chairman aspirant of the party, Dr. Amoako Baah accused the Vice-President and his camp of scheming an emphatic score in the conference in an attempt to cajole the party to allow him go unopposed.
He alleged that they were engaged in massive vote-buying in furtherance of their plot to have him go uncontested in the main primary.
Dr. Amoako Baah, however, vowed to resist such a move.
