... Says petition was fraudulent

The Okaikoi North Constituency Secretariat has condemned a petition submitted to the party headquarters by an aspiring parliamentary candidate, Mr Dickson Yaw Adjei Amankwah, and his supporters which contained tribal sentiments.

The secretariat debunked the claim by the chairpersons that 68% of the electorate would not vote for the current Member of Parliament, Mr. Darko Mensah, as a baseless projection, devoid of credible statistics and empirical evidence.

These were contained in a petition signed by the members of the secretariat which included the Chairman, Mr. John Owusu Afriyie, the 1st Vice Chairman, Ahaji Maiga, the Secretary, Joseph Asamoah-Gyamfi, Treasurer, Mr. Asiamah and the Organizer, Mr. Emmanuel Quashie.

The petition which was copied to the regional chairman of the NPP and the regional secretariat in Accra said, "the conduct of Dickson Yaw Amankwaa smacks of tribal sentiments, breach of trust and fraud".

It noted that the list of signatories was fraudulent and majority of the signatories contacted denied being aware of the contents of the petition and that their signatures were forged by the author.

It said the assertion that Mr. Darko Mensah was a lame duck and had done nothing in the constituency was outrageous, ungrateful and misinformation aimed at discrediting the gains chalked by the MP.

The petition added, "the issues in the petition against us are unfounded, baseless and false, maliciously calculated to discredit and embarrass us, (the executive) and the MP, Mr. Darko Mensah."

The petition denied that it was not aware that he single handedly funded a regional rally.

It said that the verbal threats and physical assaults on the secretariat, aspiring MPs and eminent personalities of the political tradition under the instigation of Mr. Amankwaa do not dipute the irrevocable fact that he has never been resident in the constituency.