PRESS RELEASE BY THE CONCERNED PATRIOTS of AKROFUOM CONSTITUENCY, THE NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY (COPAC-NPP)
*“”SETTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT ABOUT SOME ISSUES CONCERNING OUR PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE”’*
As you are all aware, Ghanaians will be going to the polls on the 7th of December, 2020 to elect our President and Parliamentarians.
In this press conference, our main objective is: to establish certain facts on the devious innuendos surrounding the academic qualifications of our Parliamentary Candidate (PC) and the subsequent probability of losing the Parliamentary seat to the opposition NDC.
Fellow Ghanaians, it will be recalled that in May 2015, our PC, Mr Alex Blankson filed to contest the Parliamentary primaries in the Akrofuom constituency.
The Akrofuom Constituency Executive, per the usual practice for aspirants, submitted his documents including a University of Cape Coast Degree (Bachelor of Arts with SECOND CLASS HONOURS in Social Sciences) for verification in order to ascertain their authenticity.
It emerged that Mr Alex Blankson had never been a student of the University of Cape Coast and the institution wrote back to inform the Party that the certificate in question was fake, and the Party was advised by the University to report the conduct of Mr Blankson to the Police for arrest and investigation for him to establish how he came by that certificate.
When the issue came to limelight, Mr Blankson refused to appear before the National Appeals Committee of the party and he was subsequently disqualified from contesting the 2015 Parliamentary Primaries.
Ladies and gentlemen, this same Mr Blankson re-emerged to contest in the 2020 Parliamentary Primaries which he won and has therefore become the PC for our Constituency.
We are very much aware that the party hierarchy was reliably informed during vetting of aspirants in Kumasi, about the certificate shackle hanging around the neck of Mr Blankson, vis-à-vis the criminal laws of the country concerning forgery.
Interestingly, when the issue of fake certificate was put before Mr. Blankson at the vetting, he quickly went on his knees, and then when he was subsequently questioned by the panel why he had knelt down, he pleaded for clemency, and he was told by the panel “to go and sin no more”. Thus, the party did not seem to pay any serious attention to the issue and it’s believed that matters have been put to rest.
On Monday, 7th September, 2020, some newspaper carried a story titled, NPP Activist Petitioned CID over Parliamentary Candidate’s Fake Certificate. Ladies and gentlemen, this sad and sour news happened to be about our Parliamentary Candidate, Mr Alex Blankson. That an activist has petitioned the CID and the President, calling for the arrest of our Candidate.
After such news was broken, we have not seen our PC and the Executives carrying out any serious business as far as our 2020 campaign is concerned.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends of the media, we want to set the records straight, we need immediate answers to these mind-boggling questions.
Did the “go and sin no more” statement by the vetting committee mean to exonerate Mr. Blankson right there and therefore relieved him of his crime – falsification of documents?
Per the criminal laws of Ghana, does our PC qualify to contest in the December 2020 elections? Does crime expire after five (5) years?.
If he is contesting, are we not giving him as bait to our opponents? In case he wins and our opponents contest him in court, what will be our chances?
Has the party taken any firm decision that he should be suspended or withdrawn as we are hearing? If so, who is to do what?
In case he is to be withdrawn, when is that going to take place since we have barely one month to register our PC with the Electoral commission?
Mr. Blankson would always brag that some “big men at the top” are behind him and that nobody can touch him. Who are those “big men” defending the indefensible and what is their interest?
As concerned youth of the Party, it is our core mandate to protect both the Presidential and Parliamentary seats come December 2020.
The irony of this fake certificate saga is that the NDC is using it as their campaign tool for the 2020 elections. We are therefore calling on the leadership of the Party and the President to provide answers to the above questions and find lasting solution to this canker.
We expect the hierarchy; the Presidency, National, Regional, and Constituency leaders to come out and address the problem in Akrofuom.
“We are therefore challenging our PC, Mr. Alex Blankson with a 72-hour ultimatum to take action against, all media houses that have ever published this allegation for defamation, and the University of Cape Coast for the letter of response issued to the Party in May 2015 alleging that his certificate is fake.
“We expect him to clear the air and put this matter to rest. Indeed, we are tired of mockery and provocations by our opponents”.
For almost two years now, the Constituency Executives have not organized any general meeting within the constituency. We do not hear nor know about the happenings in the party.
They have also remained unconcerned about the delays in the campaign. The honorable DCE and the sitting MP have also not done much to salvage the situation.
Ladies and gentlemen, we want to end our address in the words of one of our political leaders at a media encounter that, “the choice in December should be a leader who has a clear vision for the country, demonstrable integrity, courage, decisiveness, and the passion to position Ghana Beyond Aid while enhancing the dignity of the Ghanaian… We believe that this assertion is not a description for our Presidential Candidate alone but for our Parliamentary Candidates as well.
Signed
………………..
Hon Edward Peprah (Assembly member of Akrofuom East)
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