In a rather audacious challenge, Adansi Asokwa Member of Parliament, K. T. Hammond, has said he will \u201cresign as Member of Parliament\u201d 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\u2019s polls.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t give any credibility to that list,\u201d a defiant Mr. Hammond said on Eyewitness News on Citi FM<\/strong> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”UYGwIqk0fACBui5ER87AM1WzoU7x2wmT”]\u201cIf there is indeed that list\u2026 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\u2019t wait for the primaries to be conducted\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n The Adansi Asokwa constituency is among a list of some 30 areas where the NPP did not hold last Saturday\u2019s parliamentary primary elections.<\/p>\n In a statement, the party\u2019s General Secretary, Kwabena Agyepong, said \u201cthere are a variety of outstanding issues relating to the primaries; which are being addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Hammond, who has been in Ghana\u2019s Parliament since 2001, is seeking re-election to the 275-member legislature next year but must first win his party\u2019s 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 \u201cforged\u201d documents as part of his party and academic credentials.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s challenger.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, persons claiming to be delegates of the NPP in Mr Hammond\u2019s constituency issued a statement in which they served notice that they will not accept alleged attempts to disqualify Mr. Anokye from the race.<\/p>\n \u201cAs 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,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt 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.<\/p>\n \u201cAs 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 \u2018skirt and blouse\u2019 in two previous general elections, and this has had a negative effect on our general election results,\u201d it claimed.<\/p>\n The statement was jointly signed by one Richard Asiedu, who claims to be \u201cLeader\u201d of the group and Kennedy Boateng, who calls himself \u201cOrganiser\u201d of the aggrieved party members in the constituency.<\/p>\n It said, \u201cWe 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWe 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<\/sup> parliament of the fourth republic of Ghana\u201d.<\/p>\n In a blistering response, however, Mr. Hammond attacked the credibility of the group and its leaders on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI heard that over 200 delegates appended their signatures to some toilet roll calling for me not to be affirmed,\u201d he told Eyewitness News Anchor, Richard Dela Sky.<\/p>\n 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 \u201ca presidential motorcade\u201d to welcome him back the Constituency on Tuesday.<\/p>\n He added that at a meeting he held with the delegates, it was clear who they wanted to represent the party. \u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEvery 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Coming days after last Saturday\u2019s NPP parliamentary primary elections \u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad- during which some 24 incumbent MPs lost their respective re-election bids across the country – Mr Hammond\u2019s critics have suggested that he was desperate to avoid the fate of his fallen colleagues in Parliament.<\/p>\n In his interview on Citi FM<\/strong>, 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: \u201cI am a big boy; I can take care of myself\u201d.<\/p>\n He added, \u201c\u2026If 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 2008, the person who wanted to contest me came with false documents and was disqualified. The same thing happened in 2012,\u201d Mr. Hammond said.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s credentials are not yet public.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the person making the calls had any decency, he would wait for the Appeals Committee [of the NPP] to make their decision\u2026It is disrespectful to the committee\u2026 for someone to make the calls being made,\u201d Mr Hammond, a UK-trained lawyer said.<\/p>\n Mr. Hammond called the Asokwa constituency seat, which was previously held by the National Democratic Congress, \u201can extremely difficult constituency\u201d which he has had to fight over the years to keep for the NPP.<\/p>\n He said, \u201cYou don\u2019t just qualify through the primaries and you\u2019ve won the seat.\u00a0 Every single election I\u2019ve had to battle with my executives\u2026 But I, through the intervention of the Almighty Allah, have been able to change that constituency to NPP colours.\u201d<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Richard Dela Sky\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a rather audacious challenge, Adansi Asokwa Member of Parliament, K. T. Hammond, has said he will \u201cresign as Member of Parliament\u201d 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":75336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[43,38],"class_list":["post-126085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-foresight-medical-center","tag-palaver-newspaper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}