The Upper East regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Adams Mahama, has rendered an unqualified apology to the National Chairman Paul Afoko and General Secretary Kwabena Agyepong over the commotion that disrupted a meeting in the region Thursday.

Mahama described the incident as “entirely avoidable” and urged the party supporters to put their trust in the party’s leadership for lasting resolution of the problem.

In a statement signed by Mahama Friday, he appealed to Afoko and Agyapong, to desist from acts that would sideline other elected officers of the party.

“I am appealing to the National Chairman and General Secretary to stop this habit of sidelining elected officers they do not like. They must respect the structures of the party and work with the structures and hierarchy of the Party, including their colleagues at the Headquarters and the Regional Chairmen across the country.

“The more they seek to sideline those the Party Constitution says they must work with, the more suspicion and problems they fuel in the NPP”.

Below is the full text of the release

NATIONAL OFFICERS MUST WORK TOGETHER

On behalf of the executives of the New Patriotic Party in the Upper East Region, I render an apology for the commotion that took place at the Azonsolum Guest House, where our Chairman, Paul Afoko, and General Secretary were supposed to have met executives of our party from the region.

As Regional Chairman, I have taken steps to calm the anger and frustration of party members and sympathisers and I am appealing for calm in the region. I urge the rank and file of our party to put their trust in the Party’s leadership for lasting resolution of this problem.

This unfortunate development was entirely avoidable. It has brought to the fore two urgent matters which have to be rectified as soon as possible and the elected National Officers of the Party must be proactive in doing so.

Firstly, I am appealing to the National Chairman and General Secretary to stop this habit of sidelining elected officers they do not like.

They must respect the structures of the party and work with the structures and hierarchy of the Party, including their colleagues at the Headquarters and the Regional Chairman across the country. The more they seek to sideline those the Party Constitution says they must work with the more suspicion and problems they fuel in the NPP.

It was wrong for them to go on a region to region campaign without consulting the regional chairmen of the first two regions they visited. We want them to consult the leadership of the party in the various regions and not to sideline existing structures of communication and operation in the running of the party at the regional level.

A case in point is the fact that I, as Regional Chairman of the Upper East, was in Accra the whole of this week until yesterday, and in fact boarded a morning flight to Tamale just like Chairman Afoko and Kwabena Agyepong, on Thursday.

In fact they were well aware of my presence in Accra as I had been to the National headquarters on several occasions during this week, and yet they chose not to inform me about their intention to visit my region. They rather chose to consult and work with some constituency and regional executives. This is not helpful, especially at a time when we want to build unity at the leadership level.

Secondly, I urge the National Chairman and the General Secretary to stop their preferred mode of operation, which is to sideline the other elected National Officers in decision making at the top.

It is only fuelling flames of suspicion and I urge them to stop this and begin working with the rest of the team. After what happened at the last Steering Committee, the rank and file of the party want to see the National Officers working together.

Would it not have been nice if the Chairman and the General Secretary had chosen to go on this trip of the regions with the other National Officers to show unity? If they want to be believed that they mean well then they should let us see that they are prepared to work with the other elected National Officers.

The Chairman and General Secretary should not be seen to be trying to run a two-man show, and by that marginalise the other executives. They should be seen travelling and working with the other national officers to show a united front to the members of the party.

The delegates in Tamale, last year, elected National Officers on the same day and charged them to work together, and that is what the rank and file want to see. We at the regions are willing and ready to work with all of them but we shall not tolerate anybody who wants to be an impediment in the route to victory in 2016.

Adams Mahama Upper East Regional Chairman