Ex-NPP Chairman Cautions Against Favouritism Website
The former Western regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, (NPP), Mr. Francis Kobina Eghan, has called on the vetting committee of the party who will be vetting the parliamentary aspirants on Friday to demand certificates from each aspirant from their field of discipline and as well dig into their background to ascertain whether they are the rightful owners of the certificates. To him it is important that the committee digs deep into the individual backgrounds of the aspirants by going to their former schools to ascertain whether they indeed own the certificates as appeared on the nomination forms. The former Chairman, who was speaking in an exclusive interview with the Chronicle in Takoradi yesterday, however, called on the vetting committee to ensure honesty and fair play. He noted that it would be wrong for an aspirant to be disqualified without the recourse to the laid down procedure just because some of the committee members harboured hatred against any aspirant. He warned that such a decision could thwart the progress of the party. Mr. Francis Eghan, popularly known as 'Abatan', noted that the vetting committee as a body with the sole responsibility of deciding the fate of the aspirants, has a fairly tall responsibility to exhibit impartiality to every aspirant who appears before it, be it an incumbent Member of Parliament or otherwise. The Septuagenarian former chairman proposed that since members of the vetting committee were human and could show favouritism to the disenchantment of a particular aspirant, it behoved the Council of Elders of the party to counsel them (the committee members) on the dangers of exhibiting partiality against aspirants. “The council of elders has a responsibility to counsel them and I believe they have done that. I am saying this because as a former chairman I never showed any favoritism in any ruling to a particular person in the party.” Abatan told the Chronicle that the Committee should, however, not hesitate to disqualify any aspirant either sitting MP or individual aspirant when there are sufficient grounds that a particular aspirant had fallen short of the laid down rules and regulations guiding the party. Meanwhile, a former Assembly Member of the Sabo-Zongo area, in the Effia-Kwesimintsim constituency, Hon. Joseph Adomako has also added his voice to calls for the vetting committee to exhibit impartiality to aspirants who appear before them. According to him, the committee should avoid the habit of supporting a particular aspirant, particularly sitting MPs and rather provide room for fair play during the vetting. The Western regional vetting of the aspirants takes place this Friday at the Takoradi Beach Hotel.
Source: MJFM
