REPORTS reaching The Chronicle indicate that the proposal by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to whittle down the number of candidates that must contest the presidential primary to just three has been met with strong opposition.

Party members who are preparing feverishly to torpedo the proposal told this reporter that the attempt was a recipe for more division and disunity in the party.

To them, apart from the fact that it would bring more divisions within the party, it would also be an affront to the party's democratic credentials." We shall resist the attempt to impose that decision on us. It is a recipe for division and acrimony. It is also an affront to our democratic principles. We are not going to endorse that," one of them told this reporter.

Leading the crusade against the decision is Mr. Asamoah Gyamfi, Okaikoi North Constituency Secretary of the party, in the Greater Accra Region, told this paper that it was wrong for people to suggest that the acrimony that rocked the party was due to the large number of contestants. "It is the conduct of our people, misuse of money and executive power that caused us. It was not the number," he said.

The Constituency Secretary, who was a member of the National Research committee of the NPP, stated that the conduct of the executives, to the extent that the aspirants were not told who the delegates were, forced them to spend more money on the campaign.

Mr. Asamoah Gyamfi, strongly believes that the proposal would hit a dead end, and stressed that "the acrimony came as a result of abuse of executive powers, where some District Chief Executives were forcing constituency chairmen to hand pick delegates and vote in a particular direction."

He continued, "At the time, fairness was not allowed to prevail hence the acrimony, and we are saying that this proposal would amount to nothing, than a recipe for more divisions."

He stated that the decision by party members to expand the Electoral College was in the right direction. He however said "If we are going to expand the Electoral College, which would definitely prevent the aspirants from influencing the delegates, why then short-list them," he asked.

Other party gurus who interacted with this paper shared similar sentiments expressed by Mr. Asamoah. According to them, since the NPP professes to be apostles of democracy, any subtle attempts to undermine those principles would not be countenanced.

Top party members, including some former presidential candidates stated that everything would be done to topple the decision, saying "The NDC had at least four candidates that contested, CPP has about six candidates and we as the largest opposition party and renowned liberal democrats, would be thinking of short-listing presidential candidates."

Another party guru hinted that the only solution was to increase the nomination fees to at least ¢500m old cedis.