ASUMBO PAAA NIE: MASS RESIGNATION HITS NPP!

Nana Akufo Addo, NPP Flagbearer

By Duke Tagoe

A decision by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to suspend Mr Paul Afoko, National Chairman of the party could perhaps be considered as the biggest nail in the coffin of the party.

Alhaji Alhassan Mahama Adams, an elder and a stalwart of the party in good standing has described the action of the party as “foolish” and “stupid” adding that the NPP is “doomed”.

According to him, thousands of party loyalist and sympathizers in the Northern Regions, disapprove of the decision of the National Executive Committee and have openly announced their withdrawal of support for the party.

“I am leaving and most of the executives are calling from Tatale, Zabzugu and everywhere and they are not happy about the decision of the National Executive Committee. I am not a supporter of Paul Afoko, I worked for Paul Oware but this is the biggest blow in the belly of the party.

“What these people have done will not unite the party, it will smash the party into smaller pieces and I challenge you to mark it on the wall and see what will happen in a few days. Do you think the people who voted for Paul Afoko are babies or have cotton in their heads” he said in an interview with Radio Gold.

Ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor

The very angry man, revered for his many years of ardent support for the New Patriotic Party could not find words for his pain but only describe what had happen as “a sad day for NPP, for Nana Akufo Addo and for those people who sat in that office and took this wrong decision”. 

Announcing his resignation from the NPP, the 61 year old man said: “I have been working for this party since 1969 and we have worked even harder since 1992 but from today we have left the NPP and we have nothing doing with it again. I am telling you that the NPP cannot produce a President for this country with this wrong decision and that is the end and nobody should blame me.

“These people will pay for the decision they have taken at the party headquarters and the party members will never forgive them. They will pay for it because we cannot go into the 2016 elections as one front and it will never happen. We shall see if the party will be able to find anyone to represent them at the polling stations. We are going to lose because of this stupid and foolish decision they have taken the party office” he stressed.

Hackmann Owusu Agyemang has been fingered!

But Alhaji Mahama Adams is even more frustrated and feels betrayed. He expressed shock and disgust at the attitude of some respected members of the party when he said “I am most surprised about Hackman, I called you and told you how our region was divided about this Afoko thing so I called your attention to the matter as an elder so do your own investigations and you did it and you knew Afoko was not the problem so how do you take part in this wrong decision” he questioned. 

“ We shall see how Akufo Addo and his gang are going to win power. There can never be unity because these people are never prepared to listen to anybody. Even the flag bearer (Akufo Addo) when you call him and advise him, you become his enemy” he revealed.

Expressing disappointment at the failure of the flag bearer to unite the party after the National Delegates Congress of the party, he said: 

Peter Ala Adjetey

“Peter Ala Adjetey did not support Kufuor in his bid for the leadership of the party but when Kufuor won he brought all of them on board. This is how a leader must behave. When he (Akufo Addo) came here during his Rise and Build tour, he himself saw that the party was not united and last two weeks when he came to the Northern Region he was not happy about the organization of the party so why is he allowing criminals around him to influence his decisions. NPP is doomed and it is a free holiday for John Mahama. As of now I have nothing doing with the NPP and my supporters and family will not go out and vote on the Election Day and the NPP must forget about the Northern Regions.”

Alhaji Alhassan Mahama has however left behind a few words of advice for Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo. According to him, the flag bearer of the NPP must quickly apologise and condemn the suspension of the chairman of the party.

“…from now onwards he (Akufo Addo) should always sit in the party head office and he should never go for any secret meeting in Alisa Hotel. Akufo Addo knows the criminals around him are taking money from him and disuniting the party and he must stop it immediately” he said.

Editorial

ELECTRICITY PRICE HIKE

Some few months ago, the Insight newspaper had a leader on the sale of Electricity Company of Ghana. This was loudly condemned by the ECG as an untruth and largely ignored by civil society and other stakeholders. 

We not only reported of the plans to sell the ECG but went ahead to indicate that just like  electricity tariffs were hiked to attract Independent Power Producer to set up shop in our country, the privatization of electricity, an essential commodity in our livelihoods  would come along with steep electricity price hike. For a paltry sum ofUS$499 million of money from the U.S.A under the Ghana Millennium Challenge Account Program (Ghana compact II) under just one year, electricity price are to rise by an astronomical 182%. The above amount is far smaller than the debts owed ECG by Government and private especially foreign companies. 

The Ghana compact II is not the only entity demanding the sale of ECG, the agreement with the World Bank early this year touted as a vote of confidence in our economy called on the government of Ghana to front load hard decisions of re-alignment of utility prices before the election year of 2016. It is therefore not surprising that utility price increases of unprecedented proportions are being imposed on the poor Ghanaian. 

This type of economic governance designed by the ruling elite especially the NDC and NPP parties to manage our economy is not the best and must be rejected as it favors only a small part of the ruling elite with their foreign imperialist masters. It does not take into account the Ghanaian development reality. It  indeed only works in the interest of a few rich individuals and  marginalizes the working class. It is not just a matter of if you want the service then pay up any price put before us without commensurate service and i value for pay. After the last price hike did ‘dumsor’ go away?, did low voltage end?, did erratic Power outages stop?