Executive Director of Policy Think-Tank, IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe, believes the in-fighting and bickering within the rank and file of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) will not end anytime soon because in his view, the suspended Chairman, Paul Afoko has now become a “rebel”.
Mr. Afoko was suspended by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) weeks ago but he insists he is still the party’s Chairman.
He recently asked party members to disregard a meeting called by the acting Chairman of the party, Freddie Blay, but the party ignored his caution and carried on with the meeting.
He has also taken several intransigent positions such as issuing statements on party letterheads among others.
NEC has since Afoko’s suspension cautioned party members to support its decision but on Thursday, hundreds of supporters of Afoko believed to be members of the NPP, besieged the party’s headquarters to demand his reinstatement.
Few days of the protest, one person believed to be a party member was stabbed to death in the Asawase Constituency of the Ashanti Region.
Speaking on the recent developments, Franklin Cudjoe said, “I am getting shocked day in day out by the levels of violence, and it appears to me that it is not going to recede anytime soon because unfortunately the party’s Chairman has turned himself into a renegade, he has become a rebel and does not want to use the party processes or the constitution to resolve the matter.”
According to him, “ever since the NPP has been in opposition or even in power, this is the only time the party is witnessing a scenario of this proportion.”
“It is a bit difficult to understand why his [Afoko’s] election alone has led to all this needless problems..two people have not died in the previous elections when previous Chairmen have been elected. I am not putting Afoko on the line; I am just asking that why is it that it is only when he [Afoko] has been elected as against all the other party Chairmen that we are witnessing deaths and all that?. Could it be that he is the problem?Could it also be that other members who were elected are the problem?But I think at the end of it all, Mr. Afoko can take the blame,” he added.
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