Patriotic Future On �Pertinent Issues In NPP�

Ladies and Gentlemen of the media,

We thank you for honoring our invitation at this short notice. This press interaction has become necessary as a result of certain critical issues which are fundamental to the survival of our party’s fortunes, especially, as we usher into a critical year that will determine not only the fate of our dear party but our country at large.

As concerned patriots of our beloved country and party, we cannot remain indifferent over the obvious strangulation of our party’s constitution and the foundation principles of our party by some ‘unseen hands’ in their wildest determination to pacify certain ‘gods’ within the NPP. We have therefore resolved not to only set the records straight to our party faithful’s, but, also, to aver the minds of our party leadership to the dangerous self-destruction mode they have set in motion.

1   Over the past few months, there have been selectively manufactured suspension against certain high-profile party officials and constituency executives across the country. We believe that the hasty manner and procedural breaches per the constitution of our party gives us reason to believe that the supposed suspension of these National and constituency officers were premised on bad faith and ill intent. As we speak, there are threats to suspend certain regional officers for daring to stand up against the status quo.

 2.      A party like ours, which is a proponent of rule of law, cannot be seen to soil it hands in such a Machiavellian ‘take over’ of our party constitution. We are aware of a number of petitions against Mr. Freddie Blay and Abankwa Yeboah, however, till date, these national officers have not been invited by the National Disciplinary Committee. Perhaps, they are waiting till Christ our Lord returns. The party is now practicing George Owell’s Animal Farm. Where is the honesty, fairness and impartiality as expected of the National Disciplinary committee in the conduct of their mandate?

3.   We are of the firm belief that the torpedo of our party constitution which saw the purported suspension of our party’s National Chairman, National 2nd Vice Chairman, General Secretary and 22 other constituency executives as a classic case of witch hunt, political extremism and winner take-all politics. It is a reversal of the decision that was made in Tamale by our party frontline soldiers who travelled far and near to that important conference through the backdoor. Some persons have since not come to terms why their favorites were rejected by the ‘king makers’ of the party and have resolved to use every crude and illegal means to usurp this important decision that was made in Tamale last year.

4.      This matter is currently before a superior court, so therefore, we shall not delve into the constitutional infractions by the National Disciplinary Committee, National Executive Committee and the National Council of our party who were whipped in line by the powers that be, to rubber-stamp these illegalities.

5.      Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, let us talk a little bit about accountability and corruption within the NPP. Charity they say begins at home, so therefore, we cannot continue to make claims against the ruling Mahama led NDC government that they are corrupt and incompetent while there are similar traits within the echelons of our party. We can only remove the pecks in our eye before we can do same for our neighbor.

6.      We believe you all recall the infamous ‘Ecobank Secret bank account scandal’ which hit our party in recent times. To state briefly without belaboring the points, there were diversion of party funds totaling over GHC6million by Mr. Freddie Blay and Abankwa Yeboah into a dormant party account named ‘NPP 2010 account’ without recourse to the National Chairman, General Secretary, Steering Committee and the National Finance Committee. These funds were misappropriated by the duo and was a subject of investigation by both the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service and a sub-committee constituted by NEC. We are aware of a deliberate cover up of the report which was submitted to the Freddie Blay Chaired Steering Committee and National Executive Committee by the leadership of the party.  

7.      It is instructive to note that the party’s National Council approved that 40% of these funds which were realized from the parliamentary primaries were to go to the constituencies directly, thus, GHC25, 000 to each of the 275 constituencies. It must be noted that, despite the efforts of the National Treasurer, Mr. Abankwa Yeboah to frustrate this initiative, the office of the General Secretary on the instructions of the National Chairman, sent GHC10,000.00 to all the 275 constituencies. We want to ask Mr. Freddie Blay and Mr. Abankwa Yeboah, when are the 275 constituencies going to receive their remaining GHC15,000.00 as approved by the National Council of our party? We simply ask, na sika no wo hen? This is against the backdrop that during the 2012 general elections, funds meant for polling agents during the Election Day never got to them, a situation which the National Chairman and General Secretary wanted to correct since all politics is local.

8.      Ladies and Gentlemen, our party which once flourished as the beacon of true democracy is now abandoning its rich democratic values by re-introducing the culture of silence, violence and intimidation within its rank and file. We want to state that the culture of silence died with military dictatorship and therefore, we shall not tolerate any act of hooliganism by the invisible forces, intimidation and the threat of suspension under the guise of instilling discipline in the party. Just this week, we have witnessed yet another clash at our party Headquarters. Are we waiting till souls are lost at the premises before we speak against this ‘Patapaa’ Politics? The right to free choice, free speech and free conscience is an inalienable right of every individual which should never be compromised or stifled under no any circumstance. We expect that the leadership of our party will go back to its roots and maintain its higher standards of democratic virtues which forms the bedrock of our tradition.

9.      We are also aware of a clandestine operation by the party’s leadership to smuggle into the agenda of the upcoming delegate’s conference an endorsement of the illegal suspension of some national officers. We are also informed that persons who do not have voting rights or constitute membership of the delegate’s conference are being bused from all over the country to endorse these act. We are calling on the members of the party to be vigilant and resist any attempt that seeks to hoodwink them into further perpetrating any illegality or whatsoever.

10.  We want to use this opportunity to wish all delegates a safe journey as they attend this emergency delegate’s conference. We further urge them to stand firmly by the Osono symbol, defend the party constitution and also protect the democratic values of our party.

Thank you!

Long Live the NPP!

Long Live the Republic of Ghana!

 

Signed:




CHARLES MCCARTHY                    

NATIONAL COORDINATOR             

0544133187