Dark clouds seem to be gathering over the unity of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). It is also looking likely the alleged ongoing attempt to remove the National Chairman and the General Secretary from office will end up in the courts.
As at 5:00 p.m. yesterday, various meetings in some regional capital to get signatures to trigger the process of impeaching Mr. Paul Afoko (National Chairman) and Mr. Kwabena Agyapong (General Secretary) did not go according to plan. Many of the executives who attended refused to sign a prepared statement, asking for the impeachment of Afoko and Agyapong.
An article on page 19 of yesterday’s issue of the Daily Graphic headed ‘Regional Chairman Plan To Oust Afoko, Agyapong?,’ made some interesting revelations about the happenings in the NPP. The article included an interview with Mr. Afoko.
Mr. Afoko said with Nana Akufo-Addo being aware, there had been an arrangement to have a joint National Executive's Committee (NEC) and National Council of Elders (NC) meeting yesterday. He told the Graphic that he was at a loss that having agreed to that meeting, a meeting of regional chairmen had taken precedence over the NEC/NC meeting.
Below is the article, pulled from the Graphic:
The seeming internal wrangling in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is expected to deepen as regional chairmen of the party are planning meetings beginning today to pass a vote of no confidence in the party’s National Chairman, Mr. Paul Afoko, and the General secretary, Mr. Kwabena Agyepong.
The emergency regional congresses aimed at rallying support for the ousting of the two national executive members, according to some close sources of the party, were allegedly being instigated by the party's flag-bearer, Nana Akufo Addo. The sources further indicated that the appropriate constitutional processes for such meetings were not being adhered to by the regional chairmen.
When contacted, Mr. Afoko confirmed that he had been made aware of such a meeting today by the party’s flag bearer for the 2016 elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He said based on that information, he had to call off the National Executive Committee and National Council of Elders meeting scheduled for today.
He said he was at a loss that having agreed on the scheduled NEC and NC meeting with Nana Akufo-Addo and some other party leadership on Friday, such a regional chairmen’s meeting would be allowed to take place.
“These issues can end up in court and drag on till the election in 2016," a source hinted the Daily Graphic insisting that “the party cannot afford any more litigation since election 2016 is around the corner."
Another source stressed the need for the party elders to step in and find an amicable solution to a worrying trend which has the potential to split the party and completely damage its fortunes.
Some sources also told the Daily Graphic that what the party currently needed was a peace broker who could bring the centre of the party together.
It is their contention that anything short of that would not augur well for the unity of the party.
Since assuming the high office of party National Chairman and General Secretary respectively, Mr. Afoko and Mr. Agyepong have been bombarded with one challenge after another.
Their case had also been made more difficult with the tragic demise of the party’s Upper East Regional Chairman.
Alhaji Adams Mahama died at the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital last Thursday after acid had been poured on him by some unknown individuals and was buried on Saturday according to Islamic tradition.
A founder member of NPP, Mr. Ayisi Boateng, said circumstances leading to the death and the current claim by those around the deceased that some names mentioned had links to the National Chairman would make the stepping aside of the two appropriate.
This is in sharp contrast to some voices, including the immediate past National Chairman, Mr. Jake Otanka Obetsebi Lamptey and Appiah Menkah, who however disagree, calling for cool headedness as the security agencies unravel those behind the heinous crime.
A statement from the Council of Elders and signed By Mr. CK Tedam, its Chairman, is also advising members to desist from using the airwaves to generate diversions and division.”
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