Stop playing victim and deal with your mess, Kwabena Agyepong

Since Kwabena Agyepong, the General Secretary, arrived from his long sojourn in Europe, he has been on a media offensive obviously with the intent of establishing his authority as the all powerful general secretary and winning the sympathies of members of the party who are beginning to lose hope in the less than three months old Afoko–Agyepong administration.

Unfortunately, I am afraid it will take more than sweet talk on the airwaves and an angelic appearance and tone to unite this sharply divided party and restore peace in it. Actions and not words are the key to getting where we want and key are the actions of the General Secretary and his Chairman.

These new executives, the Chairman and the General Secretary campaigned chiefly on the promise to unite the party and make it stronger for victory in 2016, and based on these promises, delegates of the party elected them. However, since being elected everything Kwabena Agyepong and Paul Afoko have done is to try to make one faction of the party stronger and get rid of those perceived as belonging to the Akufo-Addo faction.

Kwabena Agyepong in his media charm goes on radio and because he has no one to challenge him claims very boldly that the new executives have done nothing to suggest that they have taken sides. Really? So what signals does Kwabena Agyepong think he is sending to the party and especially the majority supporting the bid of Nana Akufo-Addo when all the two names he presented to steering committee to be endorsed as his deputy General Secretaries are staunch, dye in the wool Alan Kyeremanteng supporters and known Nana Akufo-Addo haters – Kenwood Nuworsu, former Volta Regional Chairman and Prince Donyina, former MCE for Techiman.

What message did Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyepong want to send to the party when all the deputies they proposed for John Boadu, Sammi Awuku and Otiko Djaba are known Alan Kyeremanten fanatics? And what signals will the party receive when all the Directors they are considering, and for which they want to remove the current directors by fair or foul means, are not only Alan Kyeremanten fanatics but people who have used various platforms to denigrate the image of Nana Akufo-Addo?

Out of several appointments they want to make, not a single one is a neutral or a pro-Akufo-Addo person. Every single individual was or is a staunch supporter of Mr. Alan Kyeremanten’s Presidential bid. How does Kwabena Agyepong expect the party to be united and calm with this posture and intent to turn the party into a second office for the Alan Kyeremanten camp?

Kwabena Agyepong in speaking on radio always claims that he is going by the constitution and that everything must be done by following the constitution. If that is so, can Kwabena Agyepong tell us the clause in the constitution which gave him and Paul Afoko the power to dismiss the Director of Administration and give him only five minutes to pack and leave? Since they are so vexed in the constitution, they obviously were aware that the power to hire Directors and sack them was solely the preserve of NEC, so how did these ‘constitutionally minded’ executives act completely against the same constitution they keep referring to? Or is it a case of complying with the constitution when you are sure it favors you and throwing it into the bin when it does not support you? Double Standards!

Is it not curious, that these executives who promised to bring everyone on board are the people whose tenure so far have been focused on only taking out people from the board? All the Directors who have not been unlawfully dismissed at the head office have been totally sidelined. They are no longer invited to Steering Committee meetings or involved in any decision making. Does this not explain why for the first time both the General Secretary and the Chairman issued separate statements on behalf of the Party on May Day? A little recourse to the party structure would have saved the party from that embarrassment.

Aside the Directors, Kwabena Agyepong and Afoko have tried to get out known Nana Akufo-Addo loyalists on the National Council from it by first lobbying the Regional Chairmen to change them and replace them with Alan Kyeremanten loyalists. When that failed, Kwabena Agyepong wrote a letter to all Regional Chairmen ordering them to hold elections to elect National Council members in the hope that it will see the election of their favorites. When it seemed the party was comfortable with the convention since 1992, they finally sponsored an associate to drag the party to court. It was such a pity hearing the General Secretary lying on live radio that they had no problems with whether the Council members were elected or not. If that is the case, then why did he issue letters to Regional Chairmen asking them to hold elections? At the last council meeting Paul Afoko held his grounds that he was not going to allow the meeting proceed because according to him, the Council was not properly constituted. This matter took several hours to resolve, why did Kwabena Agyepong not say he had no issues with the composition then? Let’s have some honesty!

Afoko has held various discussions with people about his intention to change the leadership of the Minority in Parliament. This also boils down to them being perceived as pro-Nana Akufo-Addo. Staff at the Head office perceived as pro-Akufo-Addo have not been spared and lately security men who have served the party so well for over 12 years and who have risked their lives on numerous occasions were targeted for dismissal and replacement by security guards who are with Alan Kyeremanten. Because of the ambitions of Mr. Alan Kyeremanten, Kwabena Agyepong and Paul Afoko want to change everyone in the party. These are the people who promised to bring everyone on board.

So how does Kwabena Agyepong expect some of these actions to create peace in the party despite all his sweet talk?

We are not done.

Razak Osman