Following the bloody confrontation, festering animosity and mistrust among the leadership, the national officers of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) are holding a crisis meeting today to quell the internecine war tearing the party apart.
The crucial meeting called at the instance of the National Chairman, Paul Afoko, will discuss recent happenings in the party which had generated a huge debate across the length and breadth of the country.
Chief among the issues to be discussed, according to DAILY GUIDE sources, is the confusion over who gave instructions for security details at the headquarters to be changed.
This is in view of the fact that virtually all members of the national executives have denied authorising the decision which resulted in fiery clashes at the party’s Asylum Down headquarters Monday morning.
This was after an unknown group of young men from Magnun Security tried to take over control of security functions at the NPP head office from the regular security detail – Invisible Forces.
General Secretary of the party, Kwabena Agyepong, was nearly assaulted by angry party youth who had gathered there when he arrived.
It took the intervention of a team of police officers led by the Greater Accra Regional Commander, Christian Tetteh Yehonu, to bring the situation under control.
The police had to give the general secretary protection before he could enter his office.
So far, the only person who had sought to give some sort of justification to the change in security at the headquarters is an aide to NPP General Secretary, Davis Opoku Ansah, popularly known as OPK, who wrote on his Facebook wall after the dastardly incident: “First of all, no security person has been sacked from the NPP headquarters. They were told they will undergo some training to sharpen their delivery.”
According to him, “A professional security came in to start the process and the old guards felt they were being removed, and thus resorted to violence. The situation is calm now…”
But Kwabena Agyepong said he was not aware of who brought the Magnus Security guards and since Monday, he had not asked either, raising questions about his sincerity.
“…I have not given any order for the current security agents to be changed. If anybody has a problem, all you need to do is to ask; our doors are always open,” he said.
“Our party was built on love, hard work and unity and so tempers must calm down. It is not good to wash our dirty linen in public. The rumour-mongering is becoming too much and that is not helping the party. I will conduct investigation and get to the bottom of this issue because I don’t know those involved personally. Members should know that the party has a hierarchy which must be followed; all you need to do is to ask. I don’t want one drop of blood spilled in the name of our executives,” he stated.
Today’s meeting would be among members of the Steering Committee, which is made up of the national officers, the Minority Leader in Parliament and the Chairman of the Council of Elders, CK Tedam.
Issues
Since coming into office, a source at the NPP headquarters said the new national executives had not included the directors in their meetings. It is therefore not clear whether the various directors would be included this time round.
Sanction
Ahead of the meeting, however, the NPP General Secretary has served notice that he would not shy away from sanctioning members who bring the name of the party into disrepute.
This was when he spoke on various radio networks in the capital Monday morning – a day after arriving in the country from his foreign trip.
He wondered why members, especially some regional chairpersons, were out there fighting the national executives in the media.
“A whole regional chairman, without evidence, describes the national chairman in such unprintable terms… that is not acceptable; that is not right; that is indiscipline and that has to be checked. I’m going to make sure that is checked. Why are we turning the guns on ourselves?” he asked rhetorically.
Confusion
This was after tough-talking Northern Regional Chairman of the party, Daniel Bugri Naabu, had accused Kwabena Agyepong and Paul Afoko of being the cause of the woes of the party, describing the chairman as ‘tro-tro bus.’
He accused them of orchestrating the legal action instituted against the party by David Hoezame, a former constituency chairman who had filed a suit at an Accra High Court seeking a declaration that the National Council of the NPP was not properly constituted.
Some party members, including Bugri Naabu, have said this could equally invalidate the election of the current executives since these same members of the National Council voted in the recent Tamale National Delegates’ Conference which elected them into office.
Arrogant
However, a vice chairmanship aspirant of the recently held conference in Tamale, Hajia Fati Amadu, popularly known as ‘People’s Mother’ or ‘Allega’ has described Mr. Agyepong as arrogant and disrespectful.
According to her, the general secretary has no respect for anyone, irrespective of position or class in the party.
“He is running the party like his private company. Everyone knows it. I’m not the only one complaining. We are not going to allow him destroy our party for us,” she fumed.
Speaking on Hello FM yesterday, she said, “We serve a party with patience and humility but not with insolence and autocracy like that of Kwabena Agyepong.” She accused Mr. Agyepong of the crisis, pointing out that “he appointed the new security guards to take over from the old ones because they [the old security guards] allowed me entry into the party head office after I had questioned his activities as a general secretary.”
Hajia Fati is said to have fought the director of Finance and Administration appointed by Mr. Agyepong, prompting the administration to issue instructions not to allow her in – a move which the security guards could not carry out.
