Abuga Pele challenges NDC primary results
The Member of Parliament for Chiana-Paga, Mr Abuga Pele, has challenged the results declared by the Electoral Commission(EC) in last Saturday's National Democratic Congress (NDC) primary held in the constituency.
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He pointed out that the results, which showed his closest contender, Lawyer Rudolf Amenga-Etego, as the winner of the primary, were allegedly "inaccurate and manipulated to make him lose."
Lawyer Amenga-Etego polled 4,337 votes to beat the incumbent MP who got 4,177 votes. The third candidate, Mr Jonathan Nyaaba, had 825 votes. Total votes cast were 9,749 votes out of which 410 were rejected.
Speaking to the media on the outcome of the elections at Paga last Sunday, Mr Pele was convinced he had won the elections although there were some "unseen hands" within the constituency and at the national level that worked to get him out of the political scene in the constituency.
He further alleged that at the collation centre at Paga, he gathered that he was leading by six votes but there was one ballot box that delayed.
Mr Pele said that box was later brought in at the 11th hour unaccompanied by security personnel and that was what overturned the whole results in favour of Mr Amenga-Etego.
He also alleged that at Kurugu, for instance, where over 800 people voted,it was discovered that the number of people who voted was almost equal to the voter population in the national elections.
According to him, the delays in holding the primary and the manner in which they kept rescheduling it was enough evidence to show that the whole system was not working properly.
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Mr Pele stated that he would always listen to members of his constituency, “since they made me who I am today.”
According to him, already, some people are asking him to go independent in future elections.
He stressed that "if that is the general feeling of my people I would rather disobey anybody rather than disobey my people who have stood by me all these years, judging from my support base".
NYEP
Mr Pele explained that the court case on the financial scandal allegedly involving him in the National Youth Employment Programme(NYEP) saga was a planned thing to get him out since from the look of things, it seemed he had "stepped on some toes and as a result I have become a threat to some people's ambitions in the party".
He, however, indicated that the party must unite to avoid losing the elections to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) because a similar thing happened in the past and the NPP won the seat but he (Mr Pele) won it back for the NDC during the 2012 general election.
Touching on his contributions to the fortunes of the NDC, Mr Pele observed that his position as the National Coordinator of the NYEP helped to give many youths jobs, which ultimately contributed to the victory of President John Mahama in the 2012 general election.
Mr Pele has been in Parliament for 16 years, having won the parliamentary elections in 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2012. He lost in 2008 to Leo Alowe Kabah of the NPP after Mr Amenga-Etego, who contested Mr Pele at the primary in 2007, said he was dissatisfied with the results, and as a result stood as an independent candidate.