The National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) has been accused by some parliamentary aspirants in the Akatsi South Constituency in the Volta Region of leaking questions to the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, Bernard Ahiafor, ahead of a planned debate.

As a result, three contesting aspirants issued a joint statement yesterday that they were withdrawing their participation because the District Director of the NCCE, Godwin Agboada, who is supposed to supervise the parliamentary debate, had been in contact with Mr. Ahiafor before the event could take place.

The candidates who boycotted the debate – jointly organised by the NCCE and Dream Builders Foundation – were Leo-Nelson Adzidogah of the New Patriotic Party (NPP); Japhet Ametame, Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and Evans Gadeto Djikunu an independent candidate, who has been highly tipped to cause an upset on December 7.

The debate should have been held on Sunday but a source said on the night of Saturday, November 12, the sitting MP was allegedly spotted in an obscure corner near Brotherhood Church, Akatsi, and the development heightened tension among the youth.

When tension was high, the NCCE director was said to have admitted before the chiefs and the police who were present at the Letsa Korba Hall of the Akatsi College of Education – where the debate was to take place – that he met the MP but said he did not give the questions out.

He claimed he only gave the debate guidelines and other NCCE brochures to the NDC MP, but a number of young people were openly seen hooting at the MP and taunting him for getting questions ahead of the debate.

“We are registering our protest and condemn the actions of the NCCE Director who has not ensured that there will be level playing field for such a simple exercise,” the candidates said in their statement.

“We consider this development as unfortunate as Bernard Ahiafor clearly failed to make himself available on November 11 for the preparatory talks and also failed to send a representative,” the statement underscored.