News coming in from Koforidua suggest that an emergency meeting held on Tuesday, 19th January 2021 under the auspices of the Eastern Regional Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Kiston Kissi, at the residency of the Regional Coordinating Council on the modalities for the selection of MDCEs did not go down well with participants present.

According to the information gathered, the move, which sounded strange to the participants, is requesting NPP constituency executives to select two (2) individuals of their choice and recommend one (1) person for the position of Chief Executive, after which the regional leadership will also nominate one person of their choice from those same districts for consideration.

He further disclosed that the national leadership of the party will eventually select one of the names from each district for consideration by the President.

Our sources have hinted at mixed feelings among the executives after the disclosure since they believe that this can lead to abuse of the process both at the constituency, regional, and national levels.

Some were of the opinion that the region, led by Chairman Kissi, had performed poorly in the just ended Parliamentary election and therefore resorted to this tactic to gain favor in the eyes of the appointing authority and the constituency officers/MPs in the region for his third term bid.

Our sources have indicated that this strange criterion will kick out the grassroots favorites from getting the opportunities to apply to serve in President Nana Addo Dankwa’s second term of office.

Party officers who spoke on condition of anonymity believe this face-saving strategy by the regional leadership will rather deepen existing cracks within the rank and file of the party since the decision of selection will not include the larger interest groups in various constituencies.

Several attempts to get further clarification from leaders of the ruling party in Accra on the modalities adopted by the Jubilee House for the appointment of MMDCEs prove futile as our calls went unanswered.