Turf war deepens in NPP (Page 26)
The seemingly unending feud between the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Kwabena Agyapong, and some national leaders of the party has taken a new twist, with the former warning that he was ready to take on his so-called adversaries.
“Anybody who wants to go along that line that they want to destroy my political future and my life, I am going to face them squarely... Very squarely,” he said on an Accra radio station, Okay FM, yesterday.
That meeting, held to deliberate on the party's parliamentary primaries, had been chaired by Mr Freddie Blay, the First Vice-Chairman of the party.
Turf war
As if to stake his claim in the turf war in the party, Mr Agyapong stated, “As the General Secretary of the party, I have a constitutional mandate in this party. Without my signature, you can’t even file at the Electoral Commission. Or they don’t know that? They think they can just get up and send documents to the EC. There are structures and rules and regulations in this country.”
He was not done yet: “It is getting to a point where those who are behaving like ... if they don’t take care, we will expose it for every Ghanaian to know who they are.
“They are those who are destroying the party and not me. God will punish those doing evil things in the party.”
He recounted how he had seen three missed calls from Mr Blay and later called him three times to no avail while he was at his in-law’s funeral in Nkoranza in the Brong Ahafo Region.
“I told them that the issues they want to discuss at the meeting are not urgent and also at 10 a.m. on Monday I would not be able to come to Accra but if they gave me 24 hours, by that time the chairman would be in Ghana and then we can discuss whatever issue there was to discuss. They didn’t agree to my suggestion and they went ahead and had the meeting,” he said.
He accused Mr Blay of being a latter-day party member who was sowing seeds of discord in the party.
According to political pundits, the NPP seemed to be its own enemy with its deep-seated suspicion in the national executive whose loyalty seemed divided between two camps — those of the party’s presidential hopeful for the 2016 elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and three times failed presidential aspirant, Mr Alan Kyerematen.
Confusion or democracy?
The NPP headquarters has, since August last year when the new executives took control of the party, seen at least three acts of confusion or demonstration.
August 19, 2014
Confusion ensued as party supporters besieged the headquarters and threatened to attack Mr Afoko and Mr Agyapong as they held a press conference on the directive to the party’s then acting Director of Communications, Perry Okudzeto, to proceed on leave.
The chaos caused by the intimidating mob resulted in the conference being abruptly stopped, while security personnel tried to defuse the situation.
March 24, 2015
Hundreds of NPP supporters stormed the party's headquarters, protesting against new proposals and guidelines for the party’s parliamentary primaries.
May 7, 2015
Scores of NPP supporters from the Ablekuma West Constituency in the Greater Accra Region stormed the party's headquarters to protest against a decision by the General Secretary to suspend vetting of parliamentary aspirants in the constituency.
The angry NPP supporters claimed the party's scribe had taken them for granted and never bothered to attend to issues affecting them.
“Anybody who wants to go along that line that they want to destroy my political future and my life, I am going to face them squarely... Very squarely,” he said on an Accra radio station, Okay FM, yesterday.
Sounding frustrated, he said, “Every step you take, they have something to say. They think they are disturbing Kwabena Agyapong; you are disturbing and disgracing the party.”The NPP General Secretary’s latest outburst was apparently born out of the party’s Steering Committee emergency meeting which had been held when he and the National Chairman, Mr Paul Afoko, were absent.
That meeting, held to deliberate on the party's parliamentary primaries, had been chaired by Mr Freddie Blay, the First Vice-Chairman of the party.
Turf war
As if to stake his claim in the turf war in the party, Mr Agyapong stated, “As the General Secretary of the party, I have a constitutional mandate in this party. Without my signature, you can’t even file at the Electoral Commission. Or they don’t know that? They think they can just get up and send documents to the EC. There are structures and rules and regulations in this country.”
He was not done yet: “It is getting to a point where those who are behaving like ... if they don’t take care, we will expose it for every Ghanaian to know who they are.
“They are those who are destroying the party and not me. God will punish those doing evil things in the party.”
He recounted how he had seen three missed calls from Mr Blay and later called him three times to no avail while he was at his in-law’s funeral in Nkoranza in the Brong Ahafo Region.
“I told them that the issues they want to discuss at the meeting are not urgent and also at 10 a.m. on Monday I would not be able to come to Accra but if they gave me 24 hours, by that time the chairman would be in Ghana and then we can discuss whatever issue there was to discuss. They didn’t agree to my suggestion and they went ahead and had the meeting,” he said.
He accused Mr Blay of being a latter-day party member who was sowing seeds of discord in the party.
According to political pundits, the NPP seemed to be its own enemy with its deep-seated suspicion in the national executive whose loyalty seemed divided between two camps — those of the party’s presidential hopeful for the 2016 elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and three times failed presidential aspirant, Mr Alan Kyerematen.
Confusion or democracy?
The NPP headquarters has, since August last year when the new executives took control of the party, seen at least three acts of confusion or demonstration.
August 19, 2014
Confusion ensued as party supporters besieged the headquarters and threatened to attack Mr Afoko and Mr Agyapong as they held a press conference on the directive to the party’s then acting Director of Communications, Perry Okudzeto, to proceed on leave.
The chaos caused by the intimidating mob resulted in the conference being abruptly stopped, while security personnel tried to defuse the situation.
March 24, 2015
Hundreds of NPP supporters stormed the party's headquarters, protesting against new proposals and guidelines for the party’s parliamentary primaries.
May 7, 2015
Scores of NPP supporters from the Ablekuma West Constituency in the Greater Accra Region stormed the party's headquarters to protest against a decision by the General Secretary to suspend vetting of parliamentary aspirants in the constituency.
The angry NPP supporters claimed the party's scribe had taken them for granted and never bothered to attend to issues affecting them.
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