Alarm Blows In Asikuma Odoben Brakwa NDC!-Over Missing Names Of Party  Members On Voters Album

Tension is seemingly brewing in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) front in the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa (AOB) in the Central Region.

This situation follows the omission of names of some famous card-bearing members of the NDC who are in good standing in the constituency's voters register album.

The development has sparked protest by the affected members who say that the action was deliberate and without recourse to the NDC constitution.

According to the affected members, they detected the 'secret removal' of their names after they had requested for the constituency voter register album called The Green Book to know their membership status before the NDC's upcoming parliamentary primaries.

"We requested for the book because an insider told us that the leadership of the party in the constituency were planning to change or remove some names from the album. It took the leadership of the NDC in the constituency about a month to release the book, and when they did, it was detected that they had altered the information in the book."

"When the album came out, we found out that only 150 names were on the album which used to have a total of 250 names. The remaining 100 names were out, including the name of one of the members who is lacing his boots to contest the NDC parliamentary primary, and we don’t understand,” the affected members told Soireenews.com during a fact-finding mission.

They further claimed that their names have been removed and replaced with unknown ones as the party is preparing to hold its parliamentary primaries across the country.

They added that "We are saying that the NDC voters register album of the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa Constituency which used to have a total of 250 names has been reduced to about 150 names after the album came out."

They revealed that the names of members from many branches in the constituency were alleged to have been removed and replaced, which situation was sending some anxiety among the affected members, who say they could be disenfranchised in the upcoming parliamentary primary.

Meanwhile, some members of the NDC who are vying to contest the parliamentary position on the ticket of the party in the constituency have also expressed fears that they are going to be disqualified during vetting, especially when their names were not in the album.

They accused the Deputy Electoral Director of the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa Constituency of the NDC, Mr Yaw Sam, of being behind the deletion of their names.

In 2015, according to the affected members, the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Alhaji Alhassan Kobina Gnansah, contested Mrs Georgina Nkrumah Aboah, the then incumbent MP in the NDC's parliamentary primary.

And by some schemes of Yaw Sam, the members pointed out that these self- seeking elements within the NDC in the area were able to delete most of Georgina Nkrumah Aboah's supporters including some branch chairmen’s names from the book which led to the wrongfully election of Alhaji Ghansah. 

"And we are here today again and they are using same Yaw Sam to delete names of whoever is ready to contest the parliamentary position with Honourable Alhaji Ghansah.

"These elements had used the leadership of both the regional and the constituency to impress upon some of the potential parliamentary candidates who are lacing their boots to contest the incoming parliamentary primary with Alhaji Ghansah to step down for the incumbent NDC MP to go unopposed," they disclosed.

They stated that they had complained to the executives, but “the leaders were giving excuses.”

“We are waiting to see whether they will organise the election or not,” they added.

Against this backdrop, they called on the central regional and national executives of the NDC, particularly the current National Chairman of the party, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, and the General Secretary, Mr. Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, to immediately take action to address the issue.

According to the youths of the NDC, their checks on the grounds indicate that some top leadership of the party in the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa Constituency do not want to allow for competition in the race of the NDC parliamentary primary, saying that this situation has been creating wide divisions as well as affecting the united front of the NDC in the area.

However, when DAILY Analyst reached him via telephone on Saturday, January 28, 2023, Mr Sam flatly denied all the allegations against him.

In response,  Mr Sam noted that although he was not the right person to respond to the allegations, he urged the aggrieved members to use formal channels such as regional and national offices to make their complaints.

"If these members think that they have a genuine case why are they complaining to you, they should rather go to the regional office with their complains. The constituency is not autonomous in Ghana. 

If something is happening in the constituency and they have an issue with it, they should send their grievances to the regional or national for redress," Mr Sam advised.

He stated categorically that nobody has used him to delete names of party members in the area from any register voters album.

"All that they are saying are big lies, nobody has changed anyone's name in the voters register album," he stressed.

Mincing no words, Mr Sam threatened to deal with this reporter "if he goes ahead to do the story and point out the  allegations levelled against him by the aggrieved members of the party.

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