Kwadwo Mpiani, former Chief of Staff and presidential affairs minister under the presidency of John Agyekum Kuffour has placed the problems currently facing the New Patriotic Party on the head of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo.
He told Joynews in an interview that the problems of the party began the very first day Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong were sacked from the party.
“Well, to some extent yes. You know, I think the party’s problems deepened the very day the party decided to sack its Chairman [Paul Afoko] and General Secretary [Kwabena Agyapong], which I believe was unconstitutional under our own party rules, but then the party did it.” He indicated.
He adds that the party was then handed over to then candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo and that is when the problems began.
“Unfortunately, some members, including members of the group to which I belong, take pride in this by saying that they were able to remove these people. As soon as the party removed these people, they gave the party to one man who was the candidate at that time, and who is the President at this time, and this is the problem we have in the party which we are not confronting. And if we don’t confront this problem, we are going to have more problems within the party.”
He adds that the party have over the years been confronted with one problem after the other but leadership have pretended all is well.
“There have been problems with the party except that those of us in the party are trying to behave like ostriches and not seeing what’s in the party. I was not too much surprised about what happened because I have been telling colleagues that the way the party is going, if we are not lucky, there are going to be more serious upheavals in the future.”
“I have had the occasion of talking to my colleagues even at the Council of Elders that we must sit up and try to confront the issues in the party. If we pretend that everything is okay we’re going to regret it in the future. Unfortunately, some people didn’t sort of believe what I was saying, and this is one of the outcomes of what is happening in the party” he noted.
He reiterated Alan’s claim about the party being hijacked by a select few, saying, “Unfortunately, the party has become a sort of club for a few people within the party where decisions are taken by them, and then all members are supposed to comply with those decisions. People are not able to come out openly to protest, but those of us sitting back hear a lot of complaints from a lot of members of the party including even those at the highest echelon of the party. And therefore, some of us know that all is not well within the party.”