NPP Bounces Back Without Chairman Paul Afoko And General Secretary Kwabena Agyepong

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), party head office was yesterday filled with ecstasy and enthusiasm after a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and National Council (NC) ended without any storm. Calm and excitement have returned to the headquarters which has of late gained notoriety for controversies. Even before members of the NEC and NC arrived at the party’s Asylum Down headquarters, hordes of party supporters and anxious journalists had besieged the place, probably following rumours that the meeting had been called to suspend the General Secretary Kwabena Agyepong from the party. At the end of the day, it turned out to be a false information since no such decision was taken after all. The crowd went into jubilation upon spotting the record turnout of almost all party bigwigs, some of who had been missing in action as regards party activities for some time now. Out of the 120 or so members of the National Council, 95 were in attendance. The emergence of the party’s flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, marked the climax of the celebration. Conspicuously missing was party General Secretary Kwabena Agyepong, who incurred the wrath of the NEC when he disregarded their suspension order on party Chairman Paul Afoko. By the close of day, leadership of the party had taken concrete decisions to bring to an end the strife and misunderstanding that had engulfed the NPP and focus on the way forward for election 2016. The meeting was chaired by the First Vice Chairman, Freddie Blay, acting as chairman. Campaign Team Later at a press conference, the Communications Director of the party, Nana Akomea, announced that the NPP was ready for take-off, adding that the campaign team for the 2016 general elections was ready. According to him, the party’s flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, would present members of the campaign team to the National Council at its next meeting scheduled for next month. Yesterday’s activities started with a NEC meeting from 11:00am to 2:30pm, with a reaffirmation of its decision to suspend the party’s National Chairman, Paul Afoko. This was followed immediately with a National Council meeting that ended around 4:20pm. As an appellate body which is likely to hear the appeal proceedings of the issue of Mr Afoko’s suspension in case he decides to appeal the decision, the National Council was said to have avoided the temptation of deliberating on the matter. Among the several issues that were discussed was the holding on to a letter meant for the leadership from the EC by the party’s Director of Finance and Administration, Edmund Tetteh. Nana Akomea however indicated that the conduct of Mr Tetteh was referred to the party’s Steering Committee (SC) which was set to deliberate on the matter at its next meeting. The NPP leadership also talked about the upcoming by-election expected to take place in the Amenfi West constituency where the Member of Parliament (MP), John Gyetuah, recently passed away. The National Council, among others, also resolved that going forward, the Steering Committee meetings should be bi-weekly.