Family War In NPP

An aide of Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, a former Minister of Tourism and Diaspora relations, now vying for the national chairmanship of the main opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has descended heavily on his challenger, Mr. Sammy Crabbe, the incumbent Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the NPP, accusing him of bribing the Northern Executives of the NPP with Television sets to vote for him. According to Mr. Asamoah Gyamfi, Mr. Crabbe has a lot of �skeletons in his cupboard� and that any attempt by him to run down Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey - would amount to pushing him to open the can of worms. Mr. Asamoah Gyamfi�s comment came in the wake of various media reports which indicted Jake of not being able to help the NPP win the 2008 elections, and also not being able to develop the Greater Accra region, which he superintended some years back as the regional chairman In a sharp rebuttal, Sammy Crabbe dismissed all the allegations and noted that it was unfortunate that Jake�s agent would embark upon smear campaign at the time the party was preaching unity. �I think it is unfortunate that people would want to cast insinuations against those vying for positions within the same party. Elections are a contest of ideas, but not of insults. We should be mindful about our utterances. If we are not careful, we would be providing ammunition to the opposition party. The unnecessary attacks would not bring victory to the party,� he said. He added �Let us remind ourselves that we are all members of the same party working towards the victory of the party, and in that regard any personality attack should be condemned.� He continued, �I believe that we should rather concentrate in bringing party members together instead of waging personal wars. The fact remains that any mud that is thrown at those vying for positions would be used by our opponents against us. Let us be careful because whoever is elected would champion the cause of the party and strategize for us to win the 2012 general elections�. Earlier in an interview, Jake�s aide noted that stories in the papers against his boss were orchestrated by Mr. Crabbe, in an obvious attempt to run him down. �I know him very well, and if he continues to run down Jake, we would not also hit back. We shall let the whole world know that he has �skeletons in his cupboard�. I am sending this warning to him to stop, or he would realize he had bitten more than he could chew,� he said. He attacked Sammy Crabbe for sending the party from government to opposition, under his regional chairmanship. �It appears that he is up to some mischief because all the stories are being orchestrated by him. He was in the North spreading the same information about Jake, by running him down. Jake is a true Ga and NPP,� he fumed. Mr. Asamoah Gyamfi further indicated that under the regional chairmanship of Jake, he left behind a more cohesive party, which he claimed had been destroyed by Mr. Crabbe. �Jake as a campaign manager brought the party from opposition to government. He was able to build confidence of the minority tribes, especially the Gas, the Ewes, the Zongoes and others, but Sammy Crabbe has destroyed it.� Describing Mr. Crabbe as a �political novice�, he accused him of deceiving party members when he was campaigning as regional chairman, by promising a Filling station at Ada, Doughnut factory at Osu, in addition to providing jobs for party members, and challenged him to prove to all NPP members the number of party members he employed at the Ghana International Airline. �He deceived party members. He should tell us the number of people he recruited into Ghana International Airline. He has caused the defeat of the NPP in the Greater Accra Region., a classical case in point is Ablekuma South, where he managed to create a wedge between the chairman and the executives.� He continued, �Jake left transparency and a united NPP. Even though Jake cannot speak Ga, he worked together with the Ga Traditional Council during their annual Homowo festival. Jake doesn�t provide people with fish but teaches them how to fish, and there is ample evidence to prove that. He has proven to be a leader who creates opportunity and allows people working under him to grow�. Examples are the late Ferdinand Ayim, Asamoah-Boateng, the late Osei Adjei, Mr. Lord Commey, Oboshie Sai Cofie, Hon. Boniface Saddique, ex-Ambassador Solomon, and many others. He has paid party officers monthly allowance when he was the Greater Accra regional Chairman. What has Sammy Crabbe got to show as his achievements? questioned Mr. Gyamfi. But Sammy Crabbe, who indicated that he was not prepared to engage in any war of words, believed that he has a rich track record, and has provided jobs to a number of party gurus, including scholarships. Meanwhile, Patrick Attenka reports from Tema that the confusion brewing within the rank and file of Tema West New Patriotic Party (NPP) over the way and manner the compilation of the polling station register was conducted in the constituency has taken a dramatic twist. A member of the party, Kobina Ampia Biney, who is the chairman of Community 11 polling station has defied party rules and regulations and filed a suit against the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area - Irene Naa Torshi Addo, the party and 11 others. The 11 others are: NPP National Chairman � Mac Manu, General Secretary � Nana Ohene Ntow, Greater Accra regional chairman � Sammy Crabbe, Greater Accra regional 1st vice chairman � Emmanuel Atsu-Doe. The rest are Tema West 2nd vice chairman � Dr. Martin Kwasi Antwi, Constituency Secretary � Henry Osei Wusu, Constituency Organizer � Francis Poribo, Constituency Youth Organizer � Richard Abeiku Mills and constituency Women Organizer � Christie Mohammed. Mr. Biney is seeking a declaration that the compilation of the polling station register by the MP for the area and her chairman is null and void, as it breaches the rules and regulations of the party. The plaintiff is also seeking a declaration that the selection of polling station executives for the area by the MP for the area and her chairman is null and void. Mr. Biney is further seeking an order to restrain the defendants from using the polling station register compiled by the MP and her chairman in the conduct of any election by the party. In his statement of claim, Mr. Biney indicated that the General Secretary of the party, Nana Ohene Ntow issued a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) dated September 11th 2009, entitled "Compilation and Validation of Polling Station Membership register; executive time table". The MoU, which was addressed to all regional secretariats, constituency secretariats and all NPP MPs directed all polling station executives of the party to compile polling station register of members for validation by a constituency executive member and regional representative assigned to the station. The statement continued that the NPP General Secretary stated that such compilation and validation of the register of each polling station was to be done before nomination forms are sold to prospective candidates who wish to contest at the various polling stations can do so. The plaintiff avers that the Greater Accra regional office of the party appointed Albert Otchere, former Municipal Chief Executive of the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly (ASHMA) to coordinate the compilation and validation of the list of each polling station party members in the constituency before nomination for the polling station executives is invited and elections conducted. Mr. Biney explained that in-spite of the guidelines issued by the general secretary, the MP, her chairman and one Ben Brown went round the various polling stations to select polling station executives, side-stepping the laid down procedure and also without the coordinator�s involvement. The statement went on that the MP and her chairman without the involvement of the polling station executives have gone round to compile a list of membership in the various polling stations in the constituency without the validation process, which clearly contravenes the rules and regulations of the party. The plaintiff further stated that as a result of the act, some constituency executives and polling station executives have petitioned the regional and national officers of the party about the unfortunate act, but no action has been taken yet.