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Press Release
NPP
December 22, 2015
SETTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT:
MY RESPONSE TO THE COMMUNIQUE ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR OF
COMMUNICATIONS OF THE NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY(NPP ) ON THURSDAY
DEC. 10TH 2015 ASCRIBING REASONS FOR MY INDEFINITE
SUSPENSION FROM THE OFFICE OF GENERAL SECRETARY.
On Thursday December 10 2015, the Director of Communications
of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) issued a communiqué, on the
meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC). The
communiqué confirmed the NEC’s endorsement of the
Disciplinary Committee recommendation to suspend me
indefinitely from office as General Secretary of the NPP.
After a detailed study and deep reflection on the
communiqué, I wish to take this opportunity to repudiate and
totally reject all of the reasons ascribed by the NPP for my
suspension, especially any intended or untended attempts to
impugn my reputation and tarnish my good name.
I will like to first refresh our minds of the NPP’s charges
and then go on to answer each one of them thoroughly,
comprehensively and honestly. So here we go:
A) Violation of Article 3(D) of the NPP constitution which
enjoins members to publicly uphold the decisions of the
party, through various acts including;
i. His disregard for NEC decision on 23rd October, 2015,
suspending Mr. Paul Afoko
The legality or otherwise of the NEC decision of 23rd
October 2015, has been under judicial contention since the
day it was taken. Indeed, it is now the subject of a formal
law suit which is yet to be determined. As General
Secretary, I had to make a judgment call on how my conduct
will best uphold the letter and spirit of the Party’s
constitution and the laws of Ghana which also bind the
operations of all political parties in the country. This, I
had made known earlier in a letter dated September 18, 2015
addressed to the Council of Elders and the National
Disciplinary Committee.
It is therefore my humble opinion that pending the
determination of the current legal action, the charge of
disregarding the NEC decision of 23rd October 2015 is at
best unproven.
ii. Various Public statements he made that cast the Party in
bad light.
I wish to state for the record that since September 2, 2015,
when the Presidential Candidate called for a halt to all
discussions of internal party issues in the media, I have
not spoken in any shape or form that could be considered as
putting the party in a bad light; whether by interview,
press conference, response to personal attacks or on
anyone’s behalf.
I stand ready to have the above assertion be proved
otherwise by concrete and verifiable evidence.
B) He engaged in unilateral actions and activities without
consultation of, or authorization by the NEC, such as;
i. Writing to the Electoral Commission designating only him
and suspended Chairman Afoko as the only authorized
signatories.
This charge is untrue. I have not, repeat, NOT written any
such letter to the Electoral Commission; which fact could
have easily be verified.
The facts are as follows: Earlier this year, the Deputy
General Secretary and some Regional Chairmen wrote to the
Electoral Commission (EC). The EC response was that as per
the laid down procedures of the Commission, and in
accordance with the Political Parties Act 2000,
communication to the Commission is done mainly through
party’s General Secretaries.
The EC followed up its response with an instruction to all
political parties reminding them that all correspondence
between it the EC and political parties should be done
through the General Secretary/Chairman.
The EC further instructed that IPAC will from now on only
admit three Representatives from each political party
namely, the National Chairman, General Secretary and one
other.
ii. Granting waivers to parliamentary aspirants
The granting of waivers to parliamentary aspirants who have
shown commitment to the Party by General Secretaries of the
NPP is a precedent established by previous occupants of the
position. For example, in 2011, the incumbent General
Secretary granted waivers to many including Anthony Karbo
and Dr. Ayew Afriyie without recourse to NEC or the NPP’s
Steering Committee.
In my case, most of the waivers went to the Volta Region, at
the request of the Regional Chairman, Mr. Peter Amewu; in
constituencies where we have traditionally struggled to fill
candidates.
In the case of Peter Mensah, the gentleman who suffered an
acid attack in the course of duty as constituency organizer,
I justifiably granted him a waiver after receiving the
request from him and some executives of the Techiman North
constituency. Development fees were waived for the
following; former National Organizer Bamba; former MP Effah
Dartey, former MP Mrs. Cecilia Amoah; as well as Dr. Ayew
Afriyie who has supported the party through AFAG. The
Steering Committee was accordingly informed.
There is no record of protest or indeed any disciplinary
action against any of my predecessors for the actions or
their reasons for granting waivers which also followed past
precedence.
So obviously, this is ‘trumped up’ charge.
iii. Non-reference of legal matters to the proper legal
Committee ofthe Party
There are several past precedents where the party has acted
outside of the constitutional committee in legal matters.
For example, the immediate past administration instructed
Madam Joyce Opoku Boateng to represent the party in court on
the Manhyia, Kumawu and Juaben cases. The person assigned
was NOT a member of the constitutional Committee neither was
she appointed by same.
Perhaps it is important that we aver our mind to the
historic election petition of 2013, which was not referred
to the constitutional committee then headed by Hon. Ayikoi
Otoo and the verifiable fact that none of the members of the
constitutional committee, not even the Chairman, were on the
Party’s legal team at the Supreme Court.
It will be recalled that the composition of the Party’s
legal team was decided on by the Presidential Candidate,
National Chairman and General Secretary although it was the
National Council that gave the green light to go to court
iv. Interference with Constituency primaries against
National Appeal Committee decisions and also, Court
decisions.
This is blatantly untrue and can be easily verified. There
is no evidence to support this assertion. Rather, it can be
easily established, through reference to minutes that I
passed on the report of the National Appeals committee to
the Steering Committee and the National Executive Committee
without any alteration whatsoever.
Regrettably, this is another ‘trumped up’ charge without an
iota of truth
v. Misrepresentation/misleading of NEC on status of some
constituency primaries
At the NEC meeting held on the 3rd of December, 2015, the
General Secretary solicited the views and response of
members of NEC on this accusation of Misrepresenting /
misleading of NEC on status of some constituency primaries
which came from the Member of Parliament for Adansi Asokwa,
Hon. KT Hammond, who was also present in the meeting. When
the question was put to the house, none confirmed this
allegation.
It is useful to recall that at the NEC meeting held on
August 18, 2015 when the decision was taken on the primaries
in Adansi Asokwa, it was both the Ashanti Regional Chairman
and the 3rd National Vice Chairman, whose views persuaded
the NEC to overturn the National Appeals Committee decision
to disqualify aspirant Mr. Richard Anokye and uphold the
earlier regional vetting committee decision to allow him to
contest in the parliamentary primaries.
Again the minutes of the were recorded and are available for
verification
vi. He, in conjunction with suspended Chairman Afoko and
Sammy Crabbe, launched Party cards without authorizations
from NEC
Article 9 (5) 9a) of the NPP’s constitution enjoins the
Party’s Finance Committee to raise funds to support the
activities of the party. It states clearly that “It shall be
the duty of the Finance Committee to raise funds necessary
to finance the operations of the party in conformity with
the applicable laws. It shall report on its activities to
the National Chairperson.”
The Finance committee duly invited proposals and reviewed
same from six companies. On a near unanimous vote, the
committee accepted the proposal from Paymanex Limited.
Subsequently, the Party Chairman approved the recommendation
of the committee which led to the actions taken to launch
the card. The NEC was duly informed.
I want to reiterate that, for the avoidance of doubt, I
placed all the foregoing facts before the Disciplinary
Committee during my encounter with them. I was asked to
recuse myself during the subsequent NEC meeting and
therefore was denied the opportunity to participate in the
deliberations.
I would to like state that the only purpose for putting out
this statement is to correct the inaccuracies contained in
the NPP communiqué of December 10 2015 and for no other
purpose.
I believe there is already an ongoing action which will
clarify the merits or otherwise of the legality of the
removal of officers elected by the supreme body of the
party, i.e. The National Delegates Congress
My attention has also been drawn to a purported transcript
of my encounter with the Disciplinary Committee of the NPP
which was first published by myjoyonline.com. I wish to
state categorically that I completely reject that doctored
account which is only calculated to soil my good name
through innuendos and aspersions.
I will deal separately and comprehensively with the
allegations made in that false report and furnish all with a
copy of the nuine minutes of the Disciplinary Committee as
submitted to the NEC of the NPP.
My commitment, dedication and long standing service to this
tradition is a matter of public record. As a loyal member of
this party, I shall continue to offer my support and prayers
in our quest for victory in 2016.
I take this opportunity to wish all members of the NPP and
fellow citizens of Ghana a very Merry Christmas and Happy
New Year.
May God bless us
Long Live the NPP
Long Live the Republic of Ghana
Signed:
Kwabena Agyei Agyepong
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