Jake, Sir John the best for NPP – Appiah Ofori

Former Member of Parliament for Asikuma Odobeng Brakwa constituency, Paul Collins Appiah Ofori, has declared his support for the retention of Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey and Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie as the National Chairman and General Secretary of the party respectively.

He said it will be politically suicidal to change a winning team, he said, and was convinced the NPP is well positioned to win the 2016 general elections.

Appiah Ofori was speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Friday.

The scramble for positions within the NPP has reached a crescendo. The positions of National Chairman and General Secretary are the most sought after by leading members who have declared their intent to contest.

For Chairmanship, twice defeated candidate, Stephen Ntim, Paul Afoko and Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey have declared their intention.

Others still weighing their options to contest include the incumbent, 1st Vice Chairman, Fred Oware and former Attorney General and parliamentary candidate for Krowor (Nungua), Joseph Nii Ayikoi Otoo amongst others.

Also, the current General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie popularly known as Sir John will have to up his game to retain his position.

A former Deputy Director of the NPP, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, says he is determined to unseat him. Former presidential spokesperson in the erstwhile Kufuor administration, Kwabena Agyei Agyepong and Boniface Abubakar Saddique, former Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing rumoured to be lacing their boots are yet to confirm their intention.

But P.C Appiah Ofori on Ekosii Sen stated unequivocally that all the contenders are no match for the current Chairman and General Secretary.

According to him, all those vying for the Chairmanship and General Secretary positions lack the “alacrity and competence” which Jake and Sir John have used to police the NPP over the past three years.

The former Asikuma Odobeng Brakwa MP noted that those “blabbing” to be “unifiers and experienced” for the various positions in the party don’t have the grassroots support to oust Sir John and Jake from office.

He said the NPP as a democratic party believes in competition and thus every Tom, Dick and Harry can contest “but I can guarantee you that they will all lose”.

The NPP man explained that Jake and Sir John have a lot of grassroots support with their style of politicking and human relations hence it will only take a “miracle” to oust them out of office.

Appiah Ofori called on party delegates to retain the two [Jake, Sir John] if they want to NPP to come back to power.