In a rather audacious challenge, Adansi Asokwa Member of Parliament, K. T. Hammond, has said he will “resign as Member of Parliament” by close of day today if it is proven that at least 50 credible delegates from his constituency had signed a petition yesterday, calling on the party not to affirm him as the parliamentary nominee for next year’s polls.
“Don’t give any credibility to that list,” a defiant Mr. Hammond said on Eyewitness News on Citi FM on Wednesday.
[contextly_sidebar id=”UYGwIqk0fACBui5ER87AM1WzoU7x2wmT”]“If there is indeed that list… I am asking for that list to be published and if it is published and it is credible I will step down, and I won’t wait for the primaries to be conducted…”
The Adansi Asokwa constituency is among a list of some 30 areas where the NPP did not hold last Saturday’s parliamentary primary elections.
In a statement, the party’s General Secretary, Kwabena Agyepong, said “there are a variety of outstanding issues relating to the primaries; which are being addressed.”
Mr. Hammond, who has been in Ghana’s Parliament since 2001, is seeking re-election to the 275-member legislature next year but must first win his party’s nomination. His only opponent in the race for the NPP ticket for the Adansi Asokwa constituency, Richard Oduro Anokye, is under investigation by the party leadership over allegations he filed “forged” documents as part of his party and academic credentials.
It is expected that by Friday, the NPP leadership will announce its findings. There are also reports that local police in Adansi Asokwa have started investigating the forgery claims against Mr. Hammond’s challenger.
On Wednesday, persons claiming to be delegates of the NPP in Mr Hammond’s constituency issued a statement in which they served notice that they will not accept alleged attempts to disqualify Mr. Anokye from the race.
“As concerned delegates for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Adansi Asokwa constituency, we would wish to inform the entire members of the party and the general public that we will not accept any candidate by popular acclamation,” the statement said.
“It is very painful to note that ever since the Electoral College for NPP parliamentary primaries was expanded to include polling station executives, the delegates of Adansi Asokwa constituency have not been able to exercise their voting right. On several occasions persons who have come forward to contest the incumbent Member of Parliament Hon. K.T. Hammond, have been unjustly disqualified.
“As a result of this unhealthy practice in the constituency many supporters of our great party have left for other opposition parties and statics show that others have voted ‘skirt and blouse’ in two previous general elections, and this has had a negative effect on our general election results,” it claimed.
The statement was jointly signed by one Richard Asiedu, who claims to be “Leader” of the group and Kennedy Boateng, who calls himself “Organiser” of the aggrieved party members in the constituency.
It said, “We are strongly cautioning both regional and national leaders of the party that they must desist from the alleged plan to coerce Mr. Richard Oduro Anokye to step down for some compensation or disqualify him unjustifiably.
“We will not acclaim any candidate this time; we want to decide who should be our member of parliament. If this cautioning is not adhered to then we are afraid that Adansi Asokwa Constituency NPP members will not be represented in the 7th parliament of the fourth republic of Ghana”.
In a blistering response, however, Mr. Hammond attacked the credibility of the group and its leaders on Wednesday.
“I heard that over 200 delegates appended their signatures to some toilet roll calling for me not to be affirmed,” he told Eyewitness News Anchor, Richard Dela Sky.
Calling the said petition fraudulent and hopeless, Mr. Hammond said if the demands of the signatories were credible as claimed, some 430 delegates of his party would not have dispatched what he called “a presidential motorcade” to welcome him back the Constituency on Tuesday.
He added that at a meeting he held with the delegates, it was clear who they wanted to represent the party. “They were all there to meet with me, to listen to what had happened and to threaten that [should] anybody touch K.T. Hammond, you touch Adansi Askokwa Constituency.”
“Every day there are allegations against me which have no iota of truth in them. I assure my supporters that there is no trouble in Adansi Asokwa.”
Coming days after last Saturday’s NPP parliamentary primary elections - during which some 24 incumbent MPs lost their respective re-election bids across the country – Mr Hammond’s critics have suggested that he was desperate to avoid the fate of his fallen colleagues in Parliament.
In his interview on Citi FM, Mr Hammond, who doubles as the Minority Spokesperson on Energy, dismissed criticisms that he was afraid of the possible outcome of a contest with Mr. Anokye, saying: “I am a big boy; I can take care of myself”.
He added, “…If he is cleared and the rules allow for him to run; fine [and] I will contest him. The issue that I am raising is that he should qualify. For now, on the evidence that I have presented, he does not qualify and he will not run.
Mr. Hammond also denied claims he had in the past schemed and caused the party leadership to unjustifiably disqualify parliamentary aspirants who had filed their nomination papers to challenge him.
“In 2008, the person who wanted to contest me came with false documents and was disqualified. The same thing happened in 2012,” Mr. Hammond said.
According to him, calls on the party not to affirm him as the Parliamentary nominee for Adansi Asokwa are premature, especially as the outcome of ongoing investigations into Mr. Anokye’s credentials are not yet public.
“If the person making the calls had any decency, he would wait for the Appeals Committee [of the NPP] to make their decision…It is disrespectful to the committee… for someone to make the calls being made,” Mr Hammond, a UK-trained lawyer said.
Mr. Hammond called the Asokwa constituency seat, which was previously held by the National Democratic Congress, “an extremely difficult constituency” which he has had to fight over the years to keep for the NPP.
He said, “You don’t just qualify through the primaries and you’ve won the seat. Every single election I’ve had to battle with my executives… But I, through the intervention of the Almighty Allah, have been able to change that constituency to NPP colours.”
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By: Richard Dela Sky/citifmonline.com/Ghana