Afoko must fight suspension in court – Arthur K
A leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Arthur Kobina Kennedy has said he disagrees with the National Executive Committee’s (NEC) decision to indefinitely suspend the party’s National Chairman, Mr Paul Afoko.
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Despite all these grave consequences, Dr Kennedy argues that the biggest reason why Mr Afoko's removal must be fought is because,’’ it changes who we are as the New Patriotic Party. It substitutes the rule of men for the rule of law --- It grants to extremists and autocrats the right to trample on our sacred rules and procedures.’’????
The national chairman was suspended last Friday following two separate petitions to the NEC.
However, Dr Kennedy believes the party is digging its own grave and has urged the suspended national chairman to head to court to seek redress.
“If some in the NPP want to remove Mr Afoko rather than fight the 2016 election, let them follow the procedure laid down for impeachment. A unity fostered by intimidation and fear will never lead to victory.????
“Today, I urge all true leaders of our tradition to stand and confront this outrage. Let him proceed to court, not for his own sake but for the sake of our party and its principles,” Dr Kennedy said in a statement to the media.
According to Dr Kennedy, the NPP had taken another giant step forward in its bizarre, "Gbesie inspired" quest to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory in the 2016 election by suspending indefinitely, its first-ever elected chairman to hail from the north.
Regardless of who stands where in the internal wrangling tearing the NPP apart, Dr Kennedy believes there were no winners in last “Friday's thinly-disguised coup d'état against Mr Afoko. Those NPP members who are celebrating remind me of the mad man chewing his tongue happily in the believe that he is chewing meat!”
In the view of Dr Kennedy, “it seems the takeover of the NPP by CPP elements is now complete --- with Mr Blay as Chair and Abdul Malik Kweku Baako leading the public relations case for the coup! It is sad how far we have fallen from our lofty heights. We used to mock the NDC for being ruled by men instead of laws.”
According to the NPP leading member, it was obvious that those who had tried unsuccessfully to impeach Mr Afoko and found the bar to impeachment to high carefully planned and executed this despicable coup.
“Nobody is fooled by the fact that in the end, they found two northern tokens to sign complaints to the Disciplinary Committee. Mr Afoko's purported removal was wrong both legally and politically. He has been targeted from removal from the moment the votes were counted making him chairman and that is wrong,” he stated.
From the abandonment of the party's clear procedure on impeachment to the improper referral of bogus complaints to the Disciplinary Committee to the faulty convening of the National Executive Committee by a man who stood to benefit from the action, there are enough errors to reverse Mr Afoko's removal 10 times over in court, he argued
“ If we can remove a man from office for incompetence, how can we retain a losing candidate as flag bearer not once but twice? If we can sanction a man because of his brother's potential involvement in a murder, shall we remove others from office/candidacies because their relatives have been implicated in drugs?, he asked.
Politically, this unfortunate coup in the view of Dr kennedy “undermines our 2016 campaign because it gives the impression that we are more concerned about our petty quarrels and factions than the plight of Ghanaians. If we force Ghanaians to choose between our chaos and the NDC's incompetence in 2016, they will choose incompetence.”
Despite all these grave consequences, Dr Kennedy argues that the biggest reason why Mr Afoko's removal must be fought is because it changes who we are as the New Patriotic Party. It substitutes the rule of men for the rule of law --- It grants to extremists and autocrats the right to trample on our sacred rules and procedures.?????
He called on every true NPP man or woman to stand against the wrong removal of Mr Afoko not because he made no mistakes, but because that is not how the followers of Danquah, Busia and Dombo behave.
If some in the NPP want to remove Mr Afoko rather than fight the 2016 election, let them follow the procedure laid down for impeachment. A unity fostered by intimidation and fear will never lead to victory.????