NPP is corrupted and diminished - Arthur K

In a statement, the one-time presidential aspirant of the NPP lamented that in previous years, “we [NPP] used to be the party with the best legal brains in Ghana. Today, we stand corrupted and diminished, shoulder to shoulder with the NDC.”

His statement was in response to the party’s National Council resolution which upheld the decision taken by the National Executive Committee (NEC) to suspend the National Chairman, Paul Afoko.

According to him, “the National Council made us the laughing stock of all fair-minded Ghanaians. They found nothing wrong with the Council of Elders petitioning the Disciplinary Committee on which 2 of its members sit in violation of our constitution. They found nothing wrong with the National Chairman not having a chance to see his charges and have an opportunity to mount a defense.”

Below is Arthur Kennedy’s full statement

LYING IN THE NPP

Last Thursday, the NPP took another giant step in its bemusing desire to overtake the NDC as the party of lies. Before it reached this watershed moment, there had been other, smaller moments: Kwabena Agyei Agyapong’s resignation has been faked a number of times. Bribery allegations have been manufactured against good and loyal party members a few times.

We had been less than candid in our Supreme Court case. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, we asserted that “All-die-be-die” was statesmanlike and maybe even, deserving of the Nobel Prize for Peace.

We have lied about ex-President Kufuor and the Asantehene in relation to the Supreme Court verdict on the 2012 elections. We have, without evidence, convicted, the Gen. Secretary and National Chair for the murder of Regional Chairman Adams and sought to remove them from office.

While all these were significant, nothing illustrates the debasing of our collective integrity more than what happened yesterday. The National Council made us the laughing stock of all fair-minded Ghanaians. They found nothing wrong with the Council of Elders petitioning the Disciplinary Committee on which 2 of its members sit in violation of our constitution.

They found nothing wrong with the National Chairman not having a chance to see his charges and have an opportunity to mount a defense. They found nothing wrong with the First-Vice Chair convening a meeting while the substantive Chair was well and available.

They found nothing wrong with a National Executive Committee meeting without a quorum to illegally suspend the National Chairman.

Therefore they affirmed the suspension of the National Chairman and set the precedent that someday in the distant future, a cabal of friends, motivated by dark motives might remove a flag-bearer from the national ticket for reasons they see fit!! We used to be the party of integrity.

We used to be the party with the best legal brains in Ghana. Today, we stand corrupted and diminished, shoulder to shoulder with the NDC. While there are things in which we must strive to overtake the NDC, INCLUDING GETTING VOTES AND GOVERNING BETTER, LYING AND INSULTS SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED.

I do not know how we got here. Is it the influx of the CPP members whose ideological indoctrination made them compulsive liars, always focused on the ends regardless of the means?

Is it the desire to control money in our party that has divorced us from timeless principles? Is it the increase of vigilantism that has turned men into women and made liars of so many in our ranks?

After impugning the integrity of the courts following the 2012, we are giving them a chance to show the whole nation that they have more integrity than the NPP by giving them a chance to tell us how wrong we were in the Afoko case. If they are wise, the courts will seize that chance with both hands.

May God bless our party and our country. May he deliver us from evil men and deeds.

By: Arthur Kobina Kennedy, Dr.