Nana B Insists Newly Sworn-In EC Board Members Aren’t NPP
The National Organiser of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Henry Nana Boakye, popularly known as Nana B, has reiterated that Dr Peter Appiahene and Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani- two new Electoral Commission Board members- are not members of their party as propagated by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
This comes after the National Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, proceeded with a letter to the Council of State over the allegation.
In the letter, the NDC said Dr Appiahene is a card-bearing NPP member; a patron of the tertiary wing of the NPP TESCON at the University of Energy and Natural Resources in Sunyani; and an NPP communicator in the Bono region.
For Hajia Tijani, the party said she is an NPP activist and was married to one Sheikh T.B. Damba, a former Second National Vice-Chairman of the NPP.
Attached to the letter were what the opposition described as evidence.
But Nana B says the allegations of the NDC are “baseless” and “malicious hate campaign” against the appointees.
“For the record, the allegations made in the NDC’s recent letter to the Council of State are wholly unfounded and only calculated to court public disaffection for these persons and impede the performance of their functions in their current office.”
He debunked allegations that Dr Appiahene is a member of the Bono regional communication team of the NPP and a patron of the NPP TESCON UENR.
Rather, he said, Dr Appiahene is a radio and television commentator.
“In 2020, I was personally responsible for the launch of the Bono Regional Campaign Team as National Youth Organiser and Dr Appiahene was not a member of that committee…As immediate past National Youth Organiser and the custodian of all patrons of TESCON prior to my elevation to National Organiser, I have not encountered Dr Appiahene in all my dealings with the TESCON UENR,” he said in a post on Facebook.
He further described as absurd, the identification of Hajia Tijani as a member of the NPP due to her family affiliation to the NPP.
“Were the above to prevail, then the appointment of Hajia Maida by former President Mahama as a member of the EC was most unfortunate considering her father was former regional NDC Chairman and she had also contested for Member of Parliament for …… constituency in 2004 as a card bearing member of the NDC,” he referenced.
He furthered that “The criteria for the appointment of EC members in the 1992 constitution is equivalent to an MP. The Constitution excludes the affinity of family members because it would be unreasonable to constrain people based on the lives of others”.
On March 20, 2023, the President swore in three new members including Hajia Tijani, and Dr Appiahene onto the Electoral Commission board.
Their inclusion has since generated a lot of controversies with Civil Society Organisations (CSO) such as the Coalition for Democratic Election Observers, calling on them to step down.
