Death threats in NPP soar: Ken Agyapong targeted

Death threats are flying all over in the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) as tension deepens in the party.

The Republic newspaper can confirm that the latest death threat was issued to Kennedy Ohene Agyapong- the NPP’s Assin Central Member of Parliament- from the bodyguard of former Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani.

In a radio interview on Monday, Ken Agyapong alerted that over the weekend, one of the bodyguards of the former Chief of Staff called him with the Vodafone number 0208****08 to tell him he was going to be killed if he does not cease his damning exposé on his boss.

But the maverick member of the NPP claims he is not scared about the threats to his life saying, “If he [Mpianim’s bodyguard] says he is going to kill me, he is joking because the people behind me are more than him.”

Apparently, Ken Agyapong last week exposed a grand scheme by Kwadwo Mpianim, a former Health Minister Dr. Richard Anane and two other unnamed culprits from the Ashanti Region and Volta Region to eliminate the party’s two-time flagbearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo through "poison[ing]…in the event that he becomes President of the Republic of Ghana."

These death threats are coming in the heels of the violent clashes that engulfed the opposition party last week following attempts to lynch the General Secretary and National Chairman of the main opposition party- Kwabena Agyei Agyapong and Paul Afoko respectively- for what party supporters say is their autocratic leadership style since they assumed office in April.

The duo believed to be sworn opponents of Akufo-Addo, who is aspiring for the flagbearership of the party for the third time, have been accused of systematically eliminating allies of Akufo-Addo from important decision-making hierarchy of the party.

They have unilaterally sacked administrators from the party’s headquarters and have allegedly replaced them with people more loyal to their course, this newspaper has gathered.

The alleged conspirators are said to be secretly setting an agenda to ensure their preferred candidate-John Kwadwo Alan Kyeremanteng (Alan Cash) beats the more popular Akufo-Addo to the flagbearership race.

However, the plans blew over on Tuesday when some aggressive members of the party and a group of party militia stormed the party headquarters with machetes and clubs to attack Kwabena Agyapong and Paul Afoko, who had staged a press conference to justify their actions.

The militia, referred to as the Invisible Forces, clashed with a group of heavily armed bodyguards contracted by Kwabena Agyapong and Paul Afoko to protect them at the party headquarters. The clash resulted in a number of injuries. It took the Ghana Police’s intervention to quell a full-scale armed conflict within the party.

Last week, the leadership of the party- the National Council and the National Executive Committee-  (NEC) called for a ceasefire, but there seems to be a sinister undercurrent of death threats that may be more deadly than the violent show of force at the party’s headquarters last Tuesday.

Already, a few people in the party have expressed attempts on their lives as rival camps in the NPP lunge at one another in what has irreparably widened the cracks in the troubled opposition party.

Since the violent altercation on Tuesday, Kwabena Agyapong goes about with a group of heavily armed bodyguards; even when he reports to work at the party’s headquarters, fearing that he might be attacked. Indeed, he last week told the media that he was afraid for his life.

Speaking recently to the Western regional party delegates in Tarkwa, Ken Agyapong stated that the actions of the General Secretary and National Chairman have sealed their ‘death warrants.'

"I feel sad for [Paul] Afoko. I feel sad for [Kwabena] Agyapong. They should sleep over it and consider that people brought them to power and you know something? They have signed their death warrant," he told the delegates.

Earlier, he also alleged that the powerful backers of the embattled General Secretary and National Chairman should be ‘careful’. “Those who are pushing Kwabena Agyapong, especially Kwadwo Mpiani and Dr. Anane, to do all those disgraceful things in the party should be careful…I am ashamed (that) Kwabena Agyapong is doing the bidding of Kwadwo Mpiani despite the resources I spent to campaign for him to become General Secretary…Arthur Kennedy should redirect his attacks to Kwadwo Mpiani because he is the wicked man destroying the party and not Nana Addo.

"I have mentioned Kwadwo Mpiani and Dr. Anane as masterminding the chaos in NPP in order to stop Nana Addo from becoming President of Ghana; they have sworn on their lives that Nana Addo will not be President. They are four, but I am withholding two for now and even with those two leading members, one from Ashanti Region and the other from Volta Region, sat down and discussed that they will poison Nana Addo in the event that he becomes President of Ghana and disrespects Ashantis...," he alleged.