Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana and leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has expressly opposed two of the three NPP proposals brought forth by the parliamentary caucus to be entrenched in the party’s constitutions.
President Akufo-Addo gave his reactions on the proposed constitutional amendments at the NPP Extraordinary Delegates Conference which commenced at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi, on Sunday, 17th December, 2017.
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Addressing delegates at the conference, Nana Addo first criticised the proposed amendment on the contesting rights of party members who hold dual citizenship, describing it as “disastrous”. In addition, the President and NPP leader, also kicked against the proposal make anyone who becomes the flagbearer the leader of the party.
An NPP 11-member committee, chaired by First Vice Chairman, F. F. Antoh few months ago came up with three constitutional amendment proposals which include:
For Members of Parliament to appoint constituency executives
For party members with dual citizenship to be disqualified from contesting for any party position
For the flagbearer of the party to be considered as the leader of the party
The proposal to exclude persons with dual nationality was aimed at harmonising the party’s constitution with the country’s 1992 constitution whose Citizenship Act bars dual citizens from holding political office.
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This particular proposal was however, grossly criticised by the NPP-USA branch who accused accused some persons in the party of hijacking the constitutional review process.
Although Nana Addo earlier commended the move for an agreement between the NPP and national constitutions, he however pointed out that the effect of the law will negatively affect their party’s foreign membership, hence the need to find another way to create the harmony. According to him, the move if directly implemented, will lead to the collapse of NPP overseas branches.
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