A Political Scientist at the University of Ghana, Dr Kwame Asah-Asante, has charged the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to investigate the assault on the polling agent of a flagbearer aspirant Mr Kyerematen and punish the culprits.
Dr Asah-Asante said that it does not help the image of the NPP to have such miscreants causing trouble in the party.
“It is gradually becoming a problem within the NPP that anytime there is a little issue people want to resort to violence.
“It doesn't augur well for a party such as NPP to have such miscreants within them to undermine all that they have fought for over the years. So, I support the call of Mr Kyerematen that these things must be looked at critically and investigated and those who are culpable are sanctioned,” he said on News 360 on TV3 on Tuesday, August 29 while commenting on the warning that Mr Kyerematen issued to stakeholders that he would not tolerate attacks on his supporters in the future.
Mr Kyerematen said the attack on his Polling Agent in the North East Region during the Super Delegates' Conference on Saturday, August 26 was “an act of total indiscipline”.
Ali Zakaria was hit in the eye and had to be taken to the Baptist Medical Center (BMC) for immediate treatment in an incident that has been described as exaggerated by the party's regional branch.
But Mr Zakaria had to be brought to Accra for further treatment.
Visiting him at the Dr Agarwal's Eye Hospital, Mr Kyerematen, who placed third in the weekend's elections after securing no votes in the North East Region, said the attack at the Nalerigu Senior High School constitutes a dent on the image of the NPP.
“We all joined the NPP because of our commitment to the values of our party but what is happening clearly shows that this is not what we bargained for,” he told journalists on Tuesday, August 29.
He warned that such behaviour would not be tolerated by him in the future.
“I am not going to tolerate this kind of behaviour. It doesn't make sense and when we cannot conduct ourselves as a family trying to select a leader in a peaceful and organised manner, how do we intend to be able to do the same kind of process when we have 200,000 plus people gathered?” he wondered concerning the November 4 Presidential Primary for the five qualified aspirants.
He said he is disturbed by the incident.
“Frankly, I am very disturbed about what has happened. The party must not put a shine on what has happened.”
The Elections Committee had earlier met him over the incident after he first complained about it in his statement issued right after the polls.
Spokesperson of the Committee Alexander Afenyo-Markin had told journalists on Monday that Mr Kyerematen, a former Minister of Trade and Industry, will be invited for a “one-on-one engagement”.
Despite stopping short of commenting on that meeting, Mr Kyerematen said: “What happened to my colleague on Saturday was an act of total indiscipline and indecent behaviour.
“How do we as a decent party going into an elections particularly at the level of super delegates superintend such behaviour?”