A group calling itself the Association of Executive Patrons has raised concerns over a "decision" by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to support incumbent General Secretary Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie in the upcoming national executive elections.
Though the group did not vouch for the decision – as it says it is from the grapevine – it claimed that such a stance will ruin the chances of the 2012 Presidential Candidate in annexing New Patriotic Party’s flagbearership position, and by extension, the presidency.
“If indeed, our potential presidential candidate has thrown his weight behind the incompetent Sir John, then we consider his decision to be a poor exercise of judgment. We say so because his backing of Sir John is by necessary extension, a backing of Sir John’s words and actions including the insults he has hurled against leading party members including his former boss, former President Kufuor,” the Association said in a statement released on Saturday, March 5.
The statement also criticized Mr. Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John, over his style of campaigning.
“We contacted Sir John and advised him to desist from the use of such language because such language was not befitting of the occupant of the general secretary position of the Party. Sir John dismissed our advice and told us “that is what the grass root people want to hear”.
SIR JOHN IS AN UNNECESSARY LIABILITY TO THE NPP
In a few days, our great Osono Party shall hold its National Delegates Conference and, as part of the activities lined up, will elect the next crop of Party leadership. Over the last few months, candidates have been touring the country to meet with delegates to discuss how best they can assist the Party to win the 2016 general elections or may be not. Indeed, our Association has had the opportunity to meet with a few of the candidates and we have shared ideas, and in some cases, made very generous financial contributions towards their respective campaigns.
However, we have noted with very grave concern the way and manner in which a particular candidate, Sir John, has conducted his campaign for a national executive position. In the first place, we were a bit taken aback when he met us in December 2013, and informed us of his intention to run for the general secretary position. As a group of professionals and executives, we advised him to bow out whilst his reputation was still intact.
In any case, the ultimate decision lay with him and we had no qualms about his candidature and campaign until a couple of weeks ago when we were furnished with a copy of a recording of Sir John speaking to delegates across the country. Instead of telling the delegates what he sought to do when re-elected, the incumbent Chief Scribe of the Party resorted to insults and the use of uncivilized language in his interaction with delegates. We contacted Sir John and advised him to desist from the use of such language because such language was not befitting of the occupant of the general secretary position of the Party. Sir John dismissed our advice and told us “that is what the grass root people want to hear”.
We strongly disagree with Sir John on this occasion. Our Party has the most discerning of Ghanaians amongst us and they certainly do not want to hear insults and crude language. We find it very worrying that the incumbent general secretary will imagine that as a Party, we are that shallow minded and can easily be swayed by his vile utterances.
To the extent that Sir John insulted and used unforgiving language against the greatest politician of our tradition, former President John Agyekum Kufuor, we consider him unfit to occupy such a prestigious position in our Party. When the recordings we received found their way to radio, specifically, Oman FM, we expected that Sir John would at the very least apologise to the persons he used such languageagainst and withdraw from the contest.
Instead, he has maintained the hostile language and reiterated his position. We are confident that the delegates will reject such a person to be the face of this Party. It is a fact that Sir John has been a rather poor administrator of this great Party of intellectuals and visionary leaders, and ought to be booted out. In the words of a delegate from Winneba “Sir John does not know how to talk. He always wants to take Asiedu Nketia to the gutter but he rather falls into a pit and struggles to get out.”
Such a person does not deserve the backing of any well-meaning person of this great Party. We have recently been informed that certain persons are travelling around the country speaking to delegates that Sir John is the preferred candidate of Nana Akufo-Addo. We do not believe Akufo-Addo will support the words and actions of Sir John and therefore do not believe Sir John is the preferred candidate of Akufo-Addo.
However, it is not far fetched since there is no smoke without fire. If indeed, our potential presidential candidate has thrown his weight behind the incompetent Sir John, then we consider his decision to be a poor exercise of judgment. We say so because his backing of Sir John is by necessary extension, a backing of Sir John’s words and actions including the insults he has hurled against leading party members including his former boss, former President Kufuor. If this is Akufo-Addo’s position, then we are afraid he will have a hard time, if not impossible, convincing Ghanaians, the floating voters, and even us that he will be the leader he says he will be. Our little advice to Akufo-Addo is “Sir, please walk the talk and don’t just talk.”
Please note that we have the authority and consent of our members to issue the above statement, the contents of which have been read and understood by our members.
Signed:
Maxwell Afriyie (President)
Source: tv3network.com
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