NPP executives want to gag free speech - Asabee tells Sir John

Former Mfantseman West parliamentary candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Stephen Asamoah Boateng, has blamed his party’s General Secretary for the seeming division in the party.

He said Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie also known as Sir John is the ‘hatchet man’ who cuts off those with dissenting views from the NPP.

Asabee as he is popularly called was reacting to “insults” purportedly hurled at him by Sir John during the party’s Thank You tour in Takoradi last week.

According to him, Sir John had, among others, mocked at his inability to regain the Mfantseman West parliamentary seat for the NPP in the 2012 elections and allegedly vowed to ensure he [Asabee] loses the seat in 2016.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Tuesday, Asamoah Boateng said the provocation is part of a grand scheme by some executives to gag free speech in the NPP.

He bemoaned the “sycophancy” of Sir John whom he claimed is doing everything possible to retain his position.

"Sir John behaves as if the NPP belongs to him but I want to tell him the NPP is not his bonafide property" Asabee stressed

He claimed that some leading members, for fear of being victimized by Sir John, have remained indifferent about what is happening in the NPP.

The former MP described the trend as worrying because "the loud silence of elders like former President Kufuor will affect the party in future".

Asabee urged the national leadership to call Sir John to order to salvage the already volatile situation in the party.