[ 2015-07-26 ]

Afoko Warns Nana Addo … Sideline Us And You Will Fail?
The National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party
(NPP), Paul Afoko, has stated clearly that he
would not support any idea that will sideline
party structures in favour of any other approach
in the running of the affairs of the party,
including the 2016 presidential and parliamentary
campaign.

If the flagbearer should heed to such wrong calls,
what it means is that polling
station/constituency/regional/national executives
will not be involved in the campaign for 2016, he
said in a rejoinder to The Chronicle.

In its Tuesday, July 21 edition, The Chronicle
carried a front page banner story where Mr. Ayisi
Boateng, a founding member of the NPP advised the
flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, not to
trust Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong and that he
(Nana) should set up his own campaign team
independent from that of the party hierarchy.

Paul Afoko is, however, warning that similar
decision taken in 2008 and 2012 contributed to the
defeat of the party and that it must not be
repeated in 2016.

“That, Mr. Ayisi-Boateng has left readers of the
story and those who listened to him on radio in no
doubt that he wants parallel party structures to
be used in the campaign for the 2016 general
elections, just like many believe happened in 2008
and 2012 general elections which contributed to a
large extent, the party’s defeat in those
elections.

“We want party executives at all levels to take
note of this agenda being pushed on the flagbearer
by persons like Mr. George Ayisi-Boateng,” he
noted in the rejoinder signed on his behalf by
Nana Yaw Osei, his spokesperson.

The following is the full rejoinder which has been
published unedited.

The attention of the National Chairman of the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) has been drawn to a front
page story published in the Tuesday, July 21, 2015
edition of “The Chronicle” newspaper at page
3.

In the said story, Mr. George Ayisi-Boateng of
Kumasi, a very senior member of the NPP, was
reported as having advised or told the flagbearer
of the NPP not to trust Mr. Paul Afoko and Mr.
Kwabena Agyepong, National Chairman and General
Secretary respectively, of the NPP.

The said story which does not only contain factual
inaccuracies, but also contain complete falsehood
in my view, should not have merited a publication
in an esteemed newspaper like ‘The Chronicle’
at all.

Well, I respond to the factual inaccuracies,
deliberate fabrications and falsehood as
follows:-

That after reading the whole story, Mr. Ayisi
Boateng was supposed to be talking to the
flagbearer of our party, Nana Addo Darkwa
Akufo-Addo, urging him to disregard party
structures in the execution of his presidential
campaign for 2016.
One would have thought that as someone allegedly
very close to the flagbearer and more importantly
a senior party member, he would not resort to the
media with a piece of information meant for the
flagbearer alone.

I know for a fact that Mr. Ayisi Boateng has, in
the past, sought to discourage other party members
and/or sympathizers from resorting to the use of
the media to discuss internal party issues. The
question is what has changed this time for him to
resort to the media with such advice meant for the
ears of our flagbearer in the media? What has
changed for him to falsely accuse these two
gentlemen of our party in the media? Some call it
double standards!

That Mr. Ayisi-Boateng has left readers of the
story and those who listened to him on radio in no
doubt that he wants parallel party structures to
be used in the campaign for the 2016 general
elections, just like many believe happened in 2008
and 2012 general elections which contributed to, a
large extent, the party’s defeat in those
elections. We want party executives at all levels
to take note of this agenda being pushed on the
flagbearer by persons like Mr. George
Ayisi-Boateng.

The National Chairman, Mr. Paul Afoko, does not
support any idea that will sideline party
structures in favour of any other approach in the
running of the affairs of the party, including the
2016 presidential and parliamentary campaign. If
the flagbearer should heed such wrong calls, what
it means is that polling
station/constituency/regional/national executives
will not be involved in the campaign for 2016.

Mr. Ayisi-Boateng demonstrated his dislike (or is
it hatred?) for Mr. Afoko, in particular, when he
said, “the national leadership of the party,
more especially Mr. Kwabena Agyapong, General
Secretary and Paul Afoko, National chairman
can’t be trusted to lead the affairs of the
party, moving forward.”

The question is, since when did it become the sole
responsibility of the party chairman and the
General Secretary to lead the affairs of our
party? Respectfully, nowhere in our party’s
constitution is it stated the National chairman
and the General Secretary are the persons to lead
the affairs of the party. I challenge Mr.
Ayisi-Boateng to point out any such provision to
the world.

It is common knowledge that in the constitution of
our party, each officer’s role is clearly
outlined. Each of these elected officers, namely
the National Chairman, National Vice Chairmen,
General Secretary, National Organizer, National
Women Organiser, National Youth Organizer and
Nasara Co-ordinator has a role to play. It is when
each is allowed to perform his/her role that the
party gets the results!

Is Mr. Ayisi-Boateng telling the world that these
other elected officers, including our flagbearer,
have no role whatsoever in leading the affairs of
our party?

The mischief in Mr. Ayisi Boateng’s comments
published in “The Chronicle” newspaper and
which he sought to defend and/or explain on a
number of radio stations including Okay FM, and
Adom FM/Nhyira FM, is exposed when he said, “in
his view, the two are yet to demonstrate enough
commitment and zeal needed to propel the NPP to
victory, hence the need for the flagbearer to look
elsewhere if the party can recapture power.’’

Since when did Mr. Ayisi-Boateng become the
barometer for measuring the levels of commitment
and zeal of National chairmen and General
Secretary of our party to be able to determine
whether or not Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong
have not demonstrated enough zeal and commitment
to propel the party to victory? So now, it is only
Mr. Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong who can propel the
party to victory?

For him, the flagbearer and other office holders
have no roles to play to propel the NPP to
victory? This is the wrong impression some of his
ilk have bandied about in the media and in some
party circles which has, unfortunately, found
space in the minds of unsuspecting members of the
public especially our party members.

For your information, Mr. Paul Afoko believes that
each and every member of our party at all levels,
including more importantly, the polling station
executives have very important roles to play if
the NPP is to win power in 2016, provided parallel
party structures are not encouraged and used, and
the party structures are properly resourced.

Mr. Ayisi-Boateng also veered into last Thursday,
July 16, 2015 Steering Committee meeting, which
was not attended by some members of that
Committee. Again, the mischief was very clear by
the use of the expression, “lots of the
members.’’
To try and paint the picture that the National
Chairman is not in control, he must create that
impression to support his baseless assertion.

The meeting was properly called and those who
attended were National Chairman, Paul Afoko,
General Secretary, Kwabena Agyepong, Chairman of
National Council of Elders, C.K. Tedam, National
Women Organizer, Otiko Djaba, 3rd Vice Chairman,
F.F. Anto.

It is instructive to note that Mr. F.F. Anto
travelled all the way from Kumasi to Accra just to
attend that meeting! So if some in Accra decided
not to attend, they know why they did not attend.

When Mr. Ayisi-Boateng says that ‘‘lots of
people’’ did not attend, what did he want to
mean when the entire membership of the Steering
Committee of the NPP is about eleven (11)!

When Mr. Ayisi-Boateng says the National Chairman
and the General Secretary of our party have been
given enough benefit of the doubt, I strongly
disagree.
On the contrary, what we know as a fact is that
those members of our party who did not support the
candidature of Mr. Afoko for the National
chairmanship position and campaigned vigorously
against him have still not accepted the fact that
he was the duly elected National chairman of our
party!

To date, such persons have sought through their
actions and inactions to frustrate him and prevent
him from performing his duties as the national
chairman. The man has known no peace since the
Tamale Conference of our party. Some even think
that, the very day he decided to contest the
national chairmanship position he has known no
peace!

So for those of us who know, when persons like Mr.
Ayisi-Boateng speak in the manner he did in “The
Chronicle” newspaper and repeated same on some
radio stations, we are not in the least
surprised.

Let me state here that I do not have the General
Secretary’s permission to speak for him on
matters that concern him alone, but as party
member who has some information on the goings-on
in the party, I say that if Mr. Ayisi-Boateng
blames Mr. Agyepong for outstanding parliamentary
primaries nationwide, then I think there could be
more to it than meet the eye.
Mr. Ayisi-Boateng knows some of the problems in
some of the constituencies and others too he does
not know, and so for him to blame Mr. Agyepong the
way he did was unfair, to say the least.

It looks like any party member has to turn to the
National Chairman and the General Secretary to
vent their anger on them even if they have
problems with their wives. This attitude must
stop!

In the face of the impediments being put in the
way of the National chairman, he still has a clear
conscience and committed to working with all in
the party to ensure that the NPP comes to power in
January 2017!

Source - Nana Yaw Osei

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