By Aberinga Milton, Bongo
On October 19, 2015, the constituency secretary Mr. Awinmakiya Stephen who allegedly belongs to the camp of one of the MP aspirant Mr Edward Bawa, who is also the Spokesperson for the Petroleum Ministry, was reported to have sneaked away with the party voters register under the cover of darkness on the day the document arrived at the constituency office.
When contacted for comment, the constituency chairman, Hon. Aberinga Tahiru confirmed the incident to this reporter but declined to comment on it, saying the matter was still under investigation to unravel the motive behind the action of the secretary. Further investigations made by this paper reveals that the initial membership registration exercise which lasted two weeks was characterised by massive hoarding of registration booklets by some constituency and polling station executives to register persons they perceived belonged to their camps.
Many members of the party who spoke to this paper opined that by stealing the entire exhibition register the secretary and his boss Mr. Edward Bawa, a contestant in the primaries sought to expunge from the register voters whom they suspected not to be their supporters. The secretary however intimated, when this reporter caught up with him, that his action was actuated by security concerns.
As atthe time of compiling this report supporters of the rest of the candidates had petitioned the national NDC executives to suspend the beleaguered constituency secretary from office, claiming that his continuous stay in office was inimical to the unity and fortunes of the party in the constituency.
The constituency leadership of the party has meanwhile asked the secretary to step aside till the primaries were over. According to them this was necessary to reduce tension and also bring about trust within the ranks and file of the party in the constituency. Many supporters were however strongly of the view that Mr. Edward Bawa personally engineered the stealing of the register and should be the one to be sanctioned together with his ‘boy’ the constituency secretary whom he used.
Many party members have stated that by the requirements of the provisions of the NDC constitution all party executives are obliged to stay neutral as that was necessary to give them the leverage to unite the party. According to them the current posture being exhibited by some executives of the party does not auger well for party unity.
