Afoko, Mpiani not funding independent parliamentary candidates – Aide

Suspended chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paul Afoko, and former Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, have denied sponsoring independent parliamentary candidates in the Ashanti Region to scuttle the chances of the party and its flag bearer Nana Akufo-Addo in the region as far as the 2016 elections are concerned.

A statement from a pro-NPP group known as Patriots for Victory accused Mr Afoko and Mr Mpiani of offering financial support to independent candidates in order to sabotage the party's presidential and parliamentary fortunes.

According to them, they also had concrete information to the effect that the suspended chairman and the former Chief of Staff have been campaigning vigorously against the party's presidential candidate.

"We want to tell Mr Afoko and Kwadwo Mpiani that we have been monitoring them since last week when they started their operations in the Ashanti Region. We know that they have been giving monies to some independent candidates as well as trying to bribe some of our polling agents so that they can compromise them on election day," the group alleged.

Reacting to the allegation on Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Thursday 1 December, Mr Afoko’s aide, Nana Yaw Osei, said Mr Afoko had not given a dime to any independent candidate to run his campaign.

He said the allegation was a figment of the imagination of the group and should be treated with the contempt it deserved.

Sam Osei David, an independent candidate for Nhyiaeso, also denied receiving any funds from Mr Afoko and Mr Mpiani.

According to him, those against the ambition of the NPP flag bearer were within the party and not those contesting as independent candidates.

Andy Owusu, an aide to the Ashanti Regional chairman of the NPP, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, who was alleged to have authored the statement accusing Mr Afoko and Mr Mpiani of working against the party, denied authoring such a statement.