The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Constituency Secretary for Navrongo Central, Dr. Selawiah Abdul-Mumin, has explained that monthly dues that have been paid by aspirants contesting the Constituency Parliamentary primaries were reduced due to the harsh economic conditions under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo.

He said the reduction which was part of party internal arrangements, took into consideration the “hard times” under the current government, so as to ease the financial burden on all the aspirants.

Full payment of monthly dues was one of the requirements from all the aspirants.

Speaking when one of the aspirants, Emmanuel Andema went to file his nomination, the outspoken party scribe explained that all aspirants have been made to pay 12 instead of the total of 18 months.

He said: “Last but not the least, all those who have endorsed you must be paid up members and members of good standing. We have had some meetings and we all came into conclusion that even though you are supposed to pay all eighteen months, we have agreed that these are the internal arrangements and you will only pay for twelve months”.

“We all agreed to the reduction because, as you all know, things are very hard under this incompetent government led by President Akufo Addo. These are hard times under the NPP government”. Things are indeed very tough and the reduction will reduce the financial burden a little” he lamented.

Deno, as he is affectionately called, later reiterated the need for aspirants to respect the fundamentals of the party when they go about with their campaign activities.

He urged them to bear the unity of the party in mind and to desist from acts of any kind that have the tendency of weakening the strength of the party.

“My chairman has already given the word of caution but I want to add to it because too much of meat does not soup. We should remind ourselves that what we are going to do is an in-house election and so we need unity. We have a long walk to victory in 2020 and we need all of us and we must work and walk in unison”. He added his caution.

He urged members to commit themselves to the activities of the party and work tirelessly to ensure the party wins in both the Parliamentary and Presidential slots in Election 2020.

Anontara Richard, the Constituency Chairman urged supporters of the various aspirants to desist from any act of violence and politics of insults that may undermine the democratic credentials of the NDC. He said the party will deal with anyone who flouts directives to engage in such unacceptable behaviour.

“I want to sound words of caution to the aspirants, their campaign team members and supporters that this is an in-house contest, the elephant is our enemy and opponent. Our purpose therefore is to capture the Navrongo Parliamentary and the Presidential seat for the NDC. So it means there should be no fighting within ourselves. Anyone who wants to compromise the primaries would not be entertained”. He warned.

The Constituency Election Director, Akamini Maurice, urged the aspirants and their members team to undertake campaigns, devoid of personality attacks and antagonism. He also urged members of the party to unite quickly after the contest to help the party get back to work on time to win the elections in 2020.

He assured all the aspirants fairness and a level playing ground in the primaries.

“As election directorate, we want to assure you of fair play. We will work in collaboration with all members and executives to ensure that every aspirant is given a fair and a level playing field to contest”. – He assured.

Mr. Emmanuel Andema filed his nomination last week to contest in the Constituency Parliamentary primaries. He filed his candidature in the company of friends, party members and well-wishers.

The soft-speaking former DCE of the Kasena-Nankana Municipal Assembly appealed to delegates to give him their votes since his attractive and likeable personality coupled with his vast experience in politics and governance puts him ahead of his contenders.