The African Centre for Parliamentary Journalism and Research (CPJR-Africa) has called on the vetting committees of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to strictly adhere to the laid-down rules and regulations for vetting parliamentary aspirants to avoid division after the process.

The centre said it has monitored the developments leading to the picking of nomination forms and the filling of the forms by aspirants for the upcoming parliamentary primaries slated for April and has also been monitoring the vetting of aspirants which started on Friday, 28 February 2020 and has observed the following:

Aspirants within some constituencies struggled to pick up nomination forms. They complained that efforts to pick up forms at the constituency and regional levels have been futile.

Some incumbent members of parliament scheming to prevent aspirants from having access to the nomination forms.

Some aspirants didn’t get feedback after several petitions submitted to the constituency and regional offices.

There were recorded incidence of violence in some constituencies.

There was a call for the retention of experienced members of parliament.

Several high-profile personalities of the party, including the Speaker of Parliament, are advocating that high-performing parliamentarians who have served for many years should be allowed to stay in parliament.

CPJR-Africa, in a statement, said the above do not auger well for efforts toward democratic consolidation in the country.

The CPJR-Africa is, therefore, calling on the vetting committees in the various regions and constituencies to adhere to the rules and regulation as put out by the party.

Failure to handle the vetting well, CPJR-Africa says, could lead to division and apathy in the constituencies.

“This has the potential of affecting the fortunes of the party in the various constituencies that it won new seats in during the 2016 parliamentary elections. This could also lead to a high rate of attrition of the first-time MPs, because in the current parliament of the 169 members on the ticket of the NPP, as many as 89 are new breed,” the statement signed by the Executive Director, Mr Harrison Kofi Belley said.