Politics of Wednesday, 16 September 2015

Source: starrfmonline.com

Volta NPP warns council of elders over Afoko, Agyepong

Paul Afoko (left) and Kwabena Agyepong Paul Afoko (left) and Kwabena Agyepong

Some constituency executives of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Volta region have described as "diabolical" attempts by the party’s Council of Elders to get its national chairman Paul Afoko suspended.

According to the executives, it is disrespectful for the Council to be pushing for the suspension of the chairman and the general secretary when they were duly elected into office.

At a press conference in Ho Tuesday, the group said any attempt to remove the two officers will cause the party the 2016 elections.

“We wish to remind all that, we the executives of the NPP gave the two gentlemen their mandates by voting for them. In a similar fashion, we also gave our Flagbearer Nana Akuffo-Addo his mandate by voting overwhelming for him”.

Below are details of the statement

We have invited you here today to give you our take on the recent happenings in our party. As you are in no doubt aware, our party and particularly some members of the national executives have suffered some serious challenges since we returned from our congress in Tamale.

A lot of these challenges are self-inflicted and borne out of sheer hatred for our national chairman and General Secretary.

We wish to remind all that, we the executives of the NPP gave the two gentlemen their mandates by voting for them. In a similar fashion, we also gave our flagbearer Nana Akuffo-Addo his mandate by voting overwhelming for him.

As executives, we feel insulted by the actions of some members of the party who are seeking to revoke these mandates through diabolical means.

It is a sign of disrespect for us and a slap on our faces for anyone to try and use the back door approach to undo what we did in Tamale.

Ladies and gentlemen, what is of immediate concern to us today is the purported petition by members of our National Council of Elders to the Disciplinary Committee to suspend our National Chairman.

We think that, the petition is unwarranted, uncalled for, unconstitutional and a serious drawback to the efforts of our flagbearer Nana Akuffo Addo and the leadership of our party to mobilise the grassroots towards victory 2016.

It is strange that, while the flagbearer and his team was on the field trying to mobilise grass root support for the party, some elders of the party chose this same period to drop a petition to suspend our national Chairman.

What is more worrying is that, the flagbearer used the same period to promote reconciliation within the party. This, very action appears to have diverted attention and taken the shine from the tour. We are now wondering who the real enemies of Nana Akuffo Addo are?

We the concerned executives and the teeming supporters of the NPP in the Volta region wish to state that, we are disappointed by the action of these elders and call for the immediate withdrawal of the petition. This petition will only worsen the troubles of our party and that is unacceptable.

We back the call for a total ceasefire and a return to the peace table as intimated by our flagbearer.