The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has extended the deadline for eligible members of the party to submit themselves for elections as polling station executives, after some people complained that they were denied access to obtain application forms.
National Chairman of the NPP, Freddie Blay, who announced this on Monday evening, said the decision was arrived at by the national leadership of the party, having taken cognizance of the complaints.
“On this note, the national party has decided to extend the sale of the polling station application forms by one day (Tuesday) – thus February 22, 2022,” he stated at a press conference at the NPP’s national headquarters in Accra.
He continued, “We are also, by this press conference, directing all polling station and electoral area committees to comply with the new extension.”
Mr. Blay said “The process of our elections of polling station executives commenced from Saturday February 19, 2022 with opening of nominations and closing on Monday, February 21, 2022.”
According to him, per an earlier release by the General Secretary, John Boadu, vetting of prospective aspirants will start on Tuesday February 22, 2022 and end on Thursday, February 24, 2022, intimating that this was to be followed with the conduct of the polling station elections from Friday, February 25 to Saturday, March 5, 2022.
The NPP Chairman said “the party has been monitoring the process keenly since it started. Notwithstanding all the adequate preparations to ensure a smooth process in this election, there have been reports of pockets of incidents happening in some constituencies.”
He mentioned Kade, Manhyia North, Bosome-Freho, and Ningo-Prampram constituencies as some of the areas that were characterized by incidence.
“There are also video disturbances being circulated on social media platforms as a result of purported instances where party people have been denied access to buy application forms.”
“The party wishes to emphasize that it has made available adequate nomination forms for the Polling Station and Electoral Area Election Committees, which are mandated committees for the conduct of the polling station and electoral area coordinator elections in the 38,622 polling stations across the country,” he asserted.
He said “the national leadership of the party is, per this press conference, directing all polling station and electoral area committees to make available the application forms to all eligible party members who wish to partake in the polling station elections.”
He also assured all eligible members that the party would take steps to ensure that application forms are made available to them, saying, “With immediate effect, the party is also dispatching officers to reported areas of disturbances for fact-finding and investigations, and where necessary, disciplinary sanctions will be applied.”
Bought forms
Mr. Blay said the party had learned of reports that some leading personalities of the NPP had procured application forms for aspiring polling station executives.
He added, “The party wishes to advise that any such matters relating to financial support in this process must be channeled through the national party secretariat for uniformity, fairness and accountability.”
Source:Fiilafmonline/Daily Guide
