Akufo-Addo turns God in NPP

It is increasingly becoming clear that the era of Nana Akufo-Addo will go down in history as the period during which a once united New Patriotic Party (NPP) became so divided that: “inexperienced political babies” like Sammy Awuku, John Kumah, Eugene Antwi and Asamoah Gyamfi raised fingers at party elders.

These days, loyalty in the NPP is only for Nana Addo, such that any member, however, senior and years of sacrifice, dare not speak publicly against any ill in the party or publicly disagree with the direction of the party. Indeed, Nana Addo has become a god being worshiped in the NPP.

Dr. Wereko-Brobby has been bannd for two years, respected Economist, Kwame Pianim, has been gagged, Dr. Kobena Arthur Kennedy, who revealed that NPP rewards “extremism and loudmouths”, and Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe are being insulted and even called names for publicly expressing their opinions on developments within the party.

Last week in particular witnessed the biggest indication of the cracks in the NPP following the conviction of the party’s General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie alias “Sir John” of intentional criminal contempt by the Supreme Court Justices hearing the election petition filed by Nana Addo, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, and calls for his resignations.

The non-elected NPP Deputy Communications Director, Sammy Awuku, in direct reference to Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe, openly declared leading members of the NPP as “agents and vehicles of destruction” adding, the so-called founding members who benefited enormously while in power are rather dividing the party in opposition.

The young Sammy Awuku who is still in his twenties, commenting on the call for the resignation of the party’s General Secretary, Mr. Owusu-Afriyie, on the Accra-based Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme last Friday, said Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe’s call is a “diversionary tactic”.

He said, knowing too well that the NPP has a strong case in court, “Nyaho Tamakloe is trying desperately to foment trouble in the party”.

He claimed that since John Mahama became the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) after the demise of John Atta Mills, “I have not seen him [NyahoTamakloe] at any NPP event”.

Sammy Awuku said, constructive criticism is what builds a political party, but Nyaho’s comments are “destructive, retrogressive and a deliberate provocation of the rank and file of NPP”.

The NPP youth activist bemoaned how the so-called leading members only criticize the party in public, but when it comes to supporting, donating and contributing to the course of the NPP, they are nowhere to be found.

“Instead of leading members helping the NPP get cutting edge solutions to the numerous problems which have bedevilled the country, they have become agents and vehicles of destruction”.

He stressed that NPP’s Disciplinary Committee is not higher than the Supreme Court, and thus will not sanction Sir John.

“We cannot punish a man twice for the same offense because that would be double jeopardy. Sir John should resign for what and go where,” he quizzed.

Interestingly, the NPP young man who once asked his young colleagues in the party to arm themselves with pestles and other implements since they cannot use guns to police the 2012 elections, said if there is someone to resign from the party, it should be Nyaho-Tamakloe who said the “2012 election would be a guerrilla warfare”.

Sammy Awuku called on the NPP to treat the comments with the contempt it deserves, and focus on building a formidable party for the future.

Another young member of the NPP who prides himself as a National Council, Eugene Antwi, lumped Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe, Dr. Arthur Kennedy and Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby as the “most indiscipline peopled in the NPP”.

He said, since NPP decided to challenge the 2012 presidential election in court, these three “wise men” have made a conscious effort to run down the party.

“We are protecting this political vehicle [NPP] jealously and zealously and will deal with anyone who will seek to run it down. People have sacrificed a lot for this party, so these three men cannot hold the NPP to ransom,” he exclaimed.

Eugene Antwi’s remarks were also in reaction to commentaries made by Dr. Nyaho Tamakloe and Arthur Kennedy about the fate of the NPP General Secretary, who was fined GHc5,000 for intentional criminal contempt.

The two outspoken NPP gurus have openly expressed disappointment about the party’s inability to sanction Sir John after he was convicted by the Supreme Court for contempt.

Dr.Nyaho-Tamakloe demanded the resignation of Sir John because he had brought the name of the party into disrepute.

Dr. Arthur Kennedy who disagrees with Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe’s call said the National leadership should crack the whip from top hierarchy to the bottom, including the party’s 2012 presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo. He queried why anybody would ask Sir John to resign when Nana Addo is still at post.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme last Friday, Eugene Antwi said, the conduct of the three men [Arthur K, Tarzan, Nyaho] smacks of “double standards and hypocrisy” adding, all they are seeking to do is to divert the party’s attention from the court case to satisfy their pay masters.

Eugene Antwi also contended that since John Mahama became president, the demeanor and utterances of Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe and his allies towards the NPP has changed dramatically.

“I become worried when people who claim to be leading members of the party behave like this; if they [Arthur K, Tarzan, Nyaho] have any advice, they should give it to their pay master who is being challenged in court,” he offered.

The NPP Council member said, the three must remember that “the NPP is the hand that fed them to achieve their political aim” and insisted emphatically that the three doctors given their conduct are not genuine members of the NPP, and thus must be ignored.

The third young man, a godson of the NPP National Chairman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Asamoah Gyamfi, doubted the commitment of a leading member of the NPP, Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe, for publicly demanding the resignation of the party’s General Secretary.

Speaking on Adom FM, Asamoah Gyamfi, an NPP communicator, criticized Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe for using the media to make the call on the General Secretary to resign.

He believed going on air was inappropriate and alluded to a biblical story in which Ham saw his father [Noah’s] nakedness and immediately run out to broadcast it to his two brothers. His brothers, Shem and Japheth walked in to cover their father’s nudity. Noah later cursed Ham and blessed his two brothers.

Asamoah Gyamfi believes Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe could have adopted the blessed brothers’ strategy because the General Secretary is the “face of the party” and ought not to be called upon publicly to resign.

He said, with the latest action by Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe, he doubts if the founding member of the NPP is really committed to the party.

He said, Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe, unlike another NPP stalwart Dr. Osafo-Maafo, does not motivate the grass-root or party communicators. He said, Osafo-Maafo occasionally assembles party communicators to his house to eat and occasionally give them some allowance.

He said, Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe while not helping, prefers to scatter the efforts of others by intermittently making outrageous comments in the media.

He wondered how a so-called founding member would want to use the media to state his case when there are party structures through which he could channel his concerns. Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe must be a founding member of the party on paper, he said.

Meanwhile, Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper, Kweku Baako Jr., has also joined the fray in bashing Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe, telling him “You are not a serial caller”, and urged him to resort to party structures in seeking redress concerning party issues, rather than jump to the media at the least opportunity.

Kweku Baako Jr. told Joy FM’s news analysis programme Newsfile on Saturday that the former Ambassador to Serbia would have done himself a lot of good had he resorted to the party structures to pursue his concerns rather than going to the media.

He said, Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe is not a serial caller within the NPP and so expected him to have handled the issue in a better way than he did. Interestingly, Kweku Baako, would have been rejoicing had this situation popped up in the ruling NDC.