The New Patriotic Party (NPP) says its National Executive Council (NEC) is ready to crack the whip on parliamentary and presidential aspirants found campaigning before the party officially opens its campaign season.

General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu who was speaking to Citi News on the sidelines of the Western Regional NPP annual delegates’ conference at Tarkwa said, the party has not yet opened the campaign season.

He thus hence cautioned aspirants and their supporters to stop campaigning to avoid the intended sanctions.

“The likely sanctions can be the prevention of the aspirant from contesting at all, suspension from the party, membership can be withdrawn. So far, the people have respected the code of conduct of the party. All the same, we will still remind them that the ban is still in place. They should wait and not start testing waters too early. The National Executive Council at the appropriate time will open nominations for people who want to contest both the parliamentary and presidential positions to offer themselves to the people“, he said.

Meanwhile, a former MP and Minister in the Kufuor administration, Asamoah Boateng who attended the Western Regional NPP annual delegates’ conference declared his intention to contest the National Chairmanship of the NPP.

He told Citi News his years of experience in many capacities and offices within the NPP make him a better candidate for the position.

“I will not sit in the office but go down to the grounds. The second point is that I am someone who can bridge the gap between the government and the party. This is because I have been a Minister, an MP, an organizer and I have been the head of Corporate Ghana in government now. So I understood both the wing of the party in Parliament and also on the grounds.”

“So bridging that gap is something I can do. Then there is another thing that I want to highlight, thus bringing back the love and discipline in the party. If we have that, then it is easy to mobilize, easy to show love and be accessible to the grassroots. We need to bring them on board and motivate them to move and that is the motivation I’m bringing on board“, he said.

The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah in his address to the delegates said the NPP is working for the region and challenged the party supporters to continue to work for the party.