Jonas Kojo Mabe, a contestant who lost his bid in becoming the president of Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has accused the leadership of TESCON-UCC for masterminding his loss because he is a Voltarian.
In that respect, he said, he would continue to be a member of the NPP but he would no longer hold himself as member of TESCON-UCC.
Recounting his story, Jonas said the organizers of the 2014/2015 election for TESCON-UCC had a pre-conceived agenda to screw the election to their favourites candidates.
According to him, the very people who organized the election likened him to the Deputy Minister of Education, Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa, whom they claimed was a stanch member of the NPP during his university days but crossed carpet to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and therefore he was likely to do the same because both of them are Voltarian.
Jonas further alleged that some voters whom the electoral officials perceived to be on his side were denied to vote base on frivolous excuses that they were not known party members even though they possessed identity cards (ID).
He said that some voters were asked whom they were going to vote for and such voters were cautioned not to vote for him because in their words “he could not be trusted because he is a Voltarian”.
Jonas accused the Director of Communication for TESCON-UCC Ernest Opoku Nti, outgoing TESCON president TK and Dennis Percy, the central regional Youth Organizer of the NPP for their roles that saw him lost the election.
Specifically, he said that Opoku Nti openly declared his support for one of the candidates and therefore for the purposes of free and fair elections, he shouldn’t have been part of the electoral officials but surprisingly, Opoku Nti was an electoral officer and therefore he and his cohorts compromised the credibility of the elections.
He said he filed complaints to the Patron of TESCON-UCC but very little was done to ensure the credibility of the elections.
His campaign manager, one Offei John, he claimed, was induced with money by his opponents and therefore even failed to openly campaign for him.
He maintained that he would continue to champion the course of the party but advised the TESCON-UCC to avoid the tribal card they play with the leadership of association so that the party could win power come 2016.
But reacting to these allegations, Director of Communication for TESCON-UCC, Ernest Opoku Nti told choicism.com that “TESCON election was well organized and all aspirants who contested the elections have accepted the results as a true reflection of the electoral system”.
He further maintained that all aspirants were given equal grounds in the electoral processes from nominations, vetting, balloting through to elections.
“TESCON embraces all members irrespective of race, colour, religion or ethnicity. The claims are palpable falsehood calculated to discount the hard-earned reputation of myself and other hardworking party officials,” he added.
Opouku questioned that” Jonas became a deputy organizer last year through elections, was he not by then a Voltarian? He became a Voltarian this year?”
He bemoaned that the attempt by Jonas to hide behind ethnocentrism to run down the electoral system in a surreptitious manner is not fair to the party.
Story:Abdul-Karim Mohammed Awaf(Fayar
Communication Studies(0268466467)
