Tension is gradually mounting on the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to remove Hon. Carlos Ahenkorah as the Parliamentary Candidate for Tema West constituency.
In different petitions addressed to the General Secretary of the NPP, polling station executives indicated that putting their lives at risk when he flagrantly violated the COVID-19 protocols and Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851).
On 20th July, 2020 Michael Akuffo, Chairman of Good Shepherded EP Church Lashibi, petitioned the General Secretary of the NPP, indicating that Carlos Ahenkorah’s admission of testing positive for COVID-19 and not going to self-isolation but rather chose to visit registration centers runs contrary to the laid down protocols as espoused by WHO and the President of the republic.
“His action has bought the party’s name into disrepute and public ridicule as captured under article 4 Clause 7, 1 (g) of the NPP Constitution, which state that a member shall not bring the name of the party into disrepute or public ridicule,” he stated.
Failure by the party to take necessary action and dealing with the issue, according to him will allow the general Ghanaian populace to question the rationale of punishing others who equally flouted the laid down protocols.
Also on August 9, 2020, Ishmael Asiedu, NPP Secretary of TMA Primary School in Klagon petitioned the General Secretary of the party calling for the withdrawal of the candidature of Hon. Kingsley Carlos Ahenkorah as the party’s Parliamentary Candidate for the up-coming national parliamentary elections to be held in December 2020.
According to him, his conduct of visiting Registration Centres whiles he had been tested positive for COVID-19 and being advised to isolate himself, constitute an act of irresponsibility and recklessness on his part. “Such a conduct is not only irresponsible but also criminal as he knew that he had COVID-19. Clearly the Honourable did not obey the COVID-19 protocols and totally disregarded the Presidential Directives on COVID-19,” he said.
According to Ishmael Asiedu, Kingsley Carlos Ahenkorah has not shown any leadership but has rather put the NPP’s name into disrepute and public ridicule and civil society is looking at what disciplinary measures will be meted out to him by the party.
To him, Carlos Ahenkorah has caused so many problems by his act to the extent that marketing him in the constituency to maintain the seat in parliament will be almost impossible and very difficult.
Another petitioner, Shaibu Abdullai Kabore, Assemblyman for Lashibi Electoral Area and NPP Organizer at St. James Primary Polling Station stressed in his petition that Hon. Carlos Ahenkorah’s shameless act of violating COVID-19 protocols was an embarrassment and discontent in and around the constituency and is eroding the good will and political leadership of the NPP.
He said, if this situation is allowed to fester, “we may encounter some political difficulties with the youth and floating voters and the likelihood of losing the seat.”
“In any case he went there in his capacity as the Parliamentary Candidate for the party in the upcoming national parliamentary elections and not as a Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry hence the need for the party to sanction him for bringing the party’s name into disrepute and public ridicule,” he stated.
He also averred that failure by the party to take the appropriate sanctions will erode the confidence the Ghanaian populace have in the party and as a government.
“We want the party to withdraw the candidature of Hon. Carlos Ahenkorah to save the image of the party in this constituency and to retain the NPP seat which we have always honorably held,” he stressed.
Another petition the General Secretary of the NPP received was from, Samuel Asante Amankwa, NPP Youth Organizer for Triumphant Grace Bapt. Ch. C.17.
Samuel Asante Amankwa mentioned that it will be in the best interest of the party if the hierarchy reconsider the candidature of the Hon. Carlos Ahenkorah for the 2020 general elections.
Evidence available to the general public, he noted, indicate that the Honourable has given enough problems to the party since the party took over the reins of power.
Stating some of the things he claimed went amiss under Carlos Ahenkorah, Samuel Asante Amankwa noted that “Hon. Carlos Ahenkorah in 2017 was suspended by the General Assembly of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly for obstructing the work of the assembly and publicly fighting with Metro Engineers. However, he was later pardoned. The Honourable has ever publicly fought in the nation’s parliament house with his colleague Hon. Samuel Okujato Ablakwa, which was uncalled for regardless of the issues at stake at the time.”
He also said, “It is this same Hon. Carlos Ahenkorah who brought about the “cash for seat” scandal upon the government, which brought a lot of disgrace to the government. The latest scandal he the Honourable has brought to the NPP government and the NPP party is that he has, according to his own account on radio, broken Presidential protocols and breached the Executive Instrument (EI) covering COVID-19, something for which other Ghanaians have been arraign before court.”
These conducts, according to Samuel Asante Amankwa, bring the party’s name into disrepute and public ridicule.
He is has therefore suggested that the party hierarchy withdraw Carlos Ahenkorah as the party’s candidate into the 2020 parliamentary elections.
These petitions are yet to receive response from the party leadership.
