Esseku To Clash With General Secretary

There is an imminent clash between the National Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Mr Harona Esseku and the party's acting General Secretary, Mr Eddie Annan, over positions taken by the two on the dismissal of 31 supporters and activists of the Effutu constituency branch of the NPP, the Independent can reveal.

While Mr Harona Esseku said the Effutu constituency executives have the power and authority to dismiss the 31, Mr Eddie Annan says "they have no such powers to do so." In an interview with The Independent on what has become known as the Effutu NPP dismissal saga, Mr Esseku said "as far as I am concerned they did the right thing by going by the party's constitution and cannot be said to have breached any part of the party's constitution.

The NPP Chairman explained that "the matter was referred to the Effutu Constituency Disciplinary Committee by the Executive who invited the affected party supporters to defend themselves over the allegation of misconduct leveled against them." "It was after the Disciplinary Committee had submitted its report that the Constituency Executive based on the recommendations implemented to the letter the contents of the report," but he was quick to add that "the executive could not have announced any disciplinary measures without recourse to the disciplinary committee."

But the acting General Secretary said "it would have been good if the Chairman had quoted relevant portions of the party's constitution to support his position," and maintained that even though he could not lay hands immediately on the NPP constitution to quote certain provisions to support his stance "I was sure of what I told you." The acting General Secretary's position was also endorsed by the Central Regional NPP Chairman, Dr. Kweku Nunnoo Ghartey, who also condemned the move to dismiss the 31 from the Effutu NPP without going by the right procedures.