By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Severe internal tensions have emerged in the Bantama Constituency branch of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ashanti Region following allegations of manipulation of the constituency’s polling station album of delegates.
Dozens of local party polling station executives, including the Constituency Chairman and grassroots coordinators, have raised alarms over what they describe as “dubious means” deployed by specific constituency executives to alter voter records.
Some aggrieved party members claim that original, long-serving delegates are being systematically flushed out of the official register.
Spokespersons for the affected party members allege that qualified names have been deleted and replaced with “ghost names” or unapproved loyalists.
They argue that this deliberate doctoring of the photo voter album is calculated to skew the outcomes of upcoming internal party elections.
The dispute erupted into public view during a heated radio debate on Kumasi-based Akoma FM, where local representatives from opposing factions engaged in fierce verbal altercations over the integrity of the data.
The grassroots faction has threatened to lock down the constituency party office if national executives fail to intervene.
Meanwhile, reliable information from the party shows that legal representatives for some aggrieved aspirants have already begun drawing up court papers.
They plan to seek an interim injunction to stop further data validation and completely freeze the compilation process, mimicking parallel legal stalemates in nearby constituencies like Afigya Sekyere East.
However, the Bantama constituency executives have downplayed the protests, calling them minor logistical discrepancies inherent to any widespread party registration data entry.
But some concerned party elders within the constituency are urging the NPP’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to deploy an independent auditing team immediately to resolve the impasse.
They warned that continuous instability in Bantama, historically known as the “NPP’s Florida,” could deeply demoralize the base and damage party cohesion ahead of regional elections.
