I am sorry – NPP A/R Vice Chair apologises to Kwabena Manu

The First Vice Chairman of the Ashanti Regional branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Hon. Kwabena Nsenkyire has rendered an unqualified apology to the NPP’s Kwabena Manu on allegations of referring to the latter as an ‘outcast’ in the party.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Kwame Adinkrah on Kumasi-based Pure FM, the NPP Chair explained that his words were twisted and put out of context. He, therefore, apologized to Mr. Kwabena Manu, a known NPP activist and an aspirant for the Kumasi Mayorship position.

“Kwame, I'd like to render an unqualified apology to Mr. Kwabena Manu and anybody affected by the publication. I never used the word 'outcast' in my statement despite the writer attributing that to me. I am very sorry for such inconvenience caused him and any party of interest,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director of GOIL, Lawyer Kwame Osei Prempeh has defended Mr. Kwabena Manu, describing him as a key NPP member with a long-standing contribution to the party’s successes within and abroad.

“Kwabena Manu is not an ‘outcast’ in the NPP. He is a true member of the party. His father Yaw Manu is a pioneer of the UP tradition and was sentenced to death in the Kulungugu trial, a case reported in Ghana Law Reports as Republic v Okyere and ors.

"His father became a member of Parliament during the Busia regime and became a deputy minister for transport and communications. Kwabena Manu is a pioneer member of the NPP in the US but always has his vote in the Nsuta Kwaman Beposo constituency.

"He contested parliamentary primaries twice against me but lost. He has always been an active member of the party. He may not win to become the Mayor of Kumasi but to describe him as an outcast is wrong and unacceptable,” Lawyer Kwame Osei Prempeh posted on Facebook.

Also, a known diaspora group within the NPP called USA Elephants in Ghana (USAEG) has in a paged document condemned the alleged statement by Hon. Kwabena Nsenkyere describing it as misguided and unintelligent as Mr. Kwabena Manu has been an honorable and long-standing member of the New Patriotic Party.

Read the full statement below.

The attention of USA Elephants in Ghana (USAEG) has been drawn to misguided and unintelligent statements made by one Kwabena Nsekyere seeking to disparage and cast aspersions on Honorable Kwabena Manu, one of our esteemed members seeking to bring his decades of experience from New York City to transform Kumasi and return it to its glory days of being the envy of other cities.

In the said statements, Kwabena Nsekyere, First Vice Chairman of the NPP who contributed to the party’s abysmal performance in the region’s showing in last year’s Parliamentary elections is reported to have referred to our brother Kwabena Manu as an “outcast.”

We members of the USA Elephants in Ghana want to use this medium to serve a very clear and unambiguous message that the days of inferiority-complexed individuals attacking Ghanaians from the Diaspora, who sacrifice a lot to return home to help with nation-building, are over.

Ghanaians have matured in our democratic dispensation such that they can tell desperation from a mile away. The “patapaa” that has characterized our political competition is giving way to intelligent exchange of ideas by those who truly seek to transform our country and improve the lives of our people.

Those “Konongo Kayas” must give way to those who can do the job.

Kumasi used to be at par with Accra in terms of economic activities. Today thanks to archaic behavior such as that displayed by Kwabena Nsekyere, the Garden city has been sliding down to a distant second to Accra.

Kwabena Manu has the experience to turn the tide. He has presided over an entire union of rail workers in New York, a city of over 18 million at the time. Furthermore, Kwabena Manu has in fact a longer history within the New Patriotic Party than this Kwabena Nsekyere of whom we are hearing for the first time because of being over-shadowed by Chairman Wontumi.

Kwabena Manu was born into the UP tradition. And he was instrumental in the birthing and the development of the NPP in New York City. So Kwabena Nsekyere must remember that as he points one finger accusing Kwabena Manu as an “outcast”, three fingers are pointing right back at him. Only that the three fingers are pointing in the accurate direction because he may be the outcast.

USA Elephants in Ghana therefore entreats the public to treat Nsekyere’s misguided statements with the contempt that they deserve. We are confident that they would not influence those charged with making the decision to select the most qualified candidate to lead Kumasi.

Communication Team USAEG, Accra.