Afoko’s culture of silence claims against NPP unsustainable- MP

The Member of Parliament for Asuogyaman says claims of a crippling culture of silence in the opposition New Patriotic Party are unsustainable.

Kofi Osei Ameyaw says the party has rules and all those who purport to be members of the party must abide by those rules.

He was reacting to suspended chairman of the New Patriotic Party Paul Afoko who broke his silence Wednesday, after the National Council of the party affirmed the decision by the National Executive Council to suspend him.

Afoko has decided to go to court to challenge what he claims to be an illegal decision to suspend him.
He said the suspension was a flagrant violation of the party’s constitution masterminded by some 70 high ranking members of the party who campaigned against his candidature.

He said those 70 members do not have the power to remove him as chairman when the real owners of the party, the delegates who voted him as chairman of the party, have yet to take any such decision.
Afoko suggested that he still remains the chairman of the party but in the interest of posterity he has proceeded to the courts for interpretation of the processes involved in suspending a chairman of the party.

He said the party is on a slippery slope to destruction and charged some party leaders to stand up and protect the image of the party from sinking any further.

But speaking to Joy News the Asuogyaman MP said Afoko’s claim that there is culture of silence cannot be the case.

He said the NPP like any other party has rules and regulations which must be followed to the letter by the members

“Before you call yourself a member you have to adhere to the provisions of the party. You cannot be a member if you don’t observe the prohibitions.
“We are all equal before the [NPP] law. If a complaint comes from anybody against any member of the party” due process is followed,” he pointed out .
He does not understand why the chairman wants to be treated differently from the party’s internal structures.
He said since Afoko’s freedom cannot be “extra territorial.”