Flagbearer aspirant of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ing. Francis Addai Nimoh has bemoaned what he says is intimidation and coercion of delegates ahead of the November 4 Presidential primary.

According to him, the many incidents of intimidation is a repeat of what transpired during the party’s Presidential primary in 2014, which should not be encouraged or countenanced.

“We should not entertain intimidation in the upcoming November 4 Presidential primary. We want to break the eight-year governance cycle under the Fourth Republic and by so doing make history. So, we can’t use the same old way to achieve what we’ve set before us. We have to adopt a new way of doing things to make the party attractive once again. There should be respect and love among party members. If we intimidate, coerce and utter divisive comments the party will not have unity and will suffer in 2024,” the former Member of Parliament for Mampong said in an interview on Ghana Kasa show on Kasapa 102.5FM/Agoo TV on Monday.

The Civil Engineer added: “In 2014, a similar thing happened, but that time we were not in power. So, someone of us turned a blind eye to such intimidations, abuses and coercion knowing we needed to come to power in 2016. Nine years later in 2023, we have similar or same conducts in the party. We are not in opposition; we are in power for nearly eight years and some of the party bigwigs have benefited from being in power and are going about coercing those who have not benefited to vote in a certain direction. Yes, the playing field is not level and we spoke about it right from the beginning. For the sake of unity of the party it is important that leaders of the party remain neutral ahead of the upcoming election.”

The NPP goes to the polls on November 4, 2023, to select a presidential candidate who will lead the party to the 2024 general elections.

Dr. Akoto is number 3 on the ballot paper. He placed 4th in the Super Delegates Conference held on August 26, 2023.

Over 210,000 delegates are expected to vote in the National Delegates Conference on November 4, 2024.