National Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Henry Nana Boakye, has debunked claims Dr Peter Appiahene is a TESCON patron at the University of Energy and Natural Resources.
On Monday, President Nana Akufo-Addo swore in Dr Appiahene, Salima Ahmed Tijani and Rev. Akua Ofori Boateng as new members of the commission.
Pictures and videos have since gone viral alleging in particular that Dr Appiahene is a patron of the NPP’s tertiary institutions’ wing, TESCON, at the University of Energy and Natural Resources.
According to Nana Boakye, those claims are unfounded and should be ignored.
He explained that while indeed the newly-appointed commissioner has engaged with the TESCON group on the UENR campus, he did so in the capacity of a resource person and not as patron.
He emphatically stated that Dr Appiahene has never been a patron of TESCON while making his submission on JoyNews’ PM Express.
“I have been National Youth Organiser for the New Patriotic Party for four years, I am now the National Organiser for the New Patriotic Party, the said nominee or the appointed person, Dr. Peter Appiahene, has never been a TESCON patron.
“We have a list of TESCON patrons…the said person he’s never been a TESCON patron…we have processes, he is never in our books as a TESCON patron. I mean, you can say that, yes, again my checks that I’ve run, he’s been invited by students, he has affiliation with some students who are TESCON, but it doesn’t mean he’s a TESCON patron,” he said.
He further stressed that simply because Dr. Appiahene is known to be affiliated to the NPP does not in any way compromise the EC’s neutrality following his appointment to the commission.
“I think we’re discussing the neutrality of the Electoral Commission and I don’t think that it can be compromised in any way. They have sets of rules, they have their guidelines, they have laws regulating their practices…” he said.
He added that Dr. Appiahene was a professional and competent person and that his appointment would not be inimical to the activities of the EC and the nation’s democracy at large.
“So for me I don’t think that this issue of neutrality will come in and I expect that once he’s been appointed and he’s a professional person – I have read about him and I’ve cross checked his background, he’s a professional person, he’s competent and clearly he can discharge his work and he’s going to, for me, be a neutral person,” he said.
