I sense NPP losing 2016 if I am not chairman – Paul Afoko

Suspended National Chairman of the NPP Paul Afoko says he sense the party losing the 2016 general elections if the party’s decision to suspend him indefinitely is not reversed.

He said the NPP is on a “slippery slope of destruction” following an escalation of internal conflict in the party leading to his suspension.

“If we don’t arrest this slippery slope of destruction, for me the foreboding is, we will lose the election,” Afoko addressed a press conference in Accra Wednesday.

He condemned the party’s decision to suspend 21 dissenting regional and constituency executives.

Afoko described the decision as “unlawful” and “arbitrary,” rejecting the party’s view that it was done to instill party discipline.

Paul Afoko said they were victimized “just for daring to disagree” after they came to Accra to peacefully petition the party to reverse his suspension.

“Who will be next and when will it end?” he wondered. He also noted this suspension spree does not portend well for the NPP.

The current culture of quelling dissent is a substantial blow to the party whose vision is ‘development in freedom’, Afoko criticized.

“It is a clear and present danger to our party’s values,” he said. He questioned the wisdom in suspending a party officer ahead of the 2016 general elections.

Picking out an example of how this suspension spree can harm the party’s chances, Afoko pointed to the disadvantages of suspending a constituency organizer in the Volta region who was also elected Assemblyman in an area supposed to be the stronghold of the ruling NDC.

Without mentioning his name, Afoko said the organiser’s suspension along with 20 others is an attack on the party’s 2016 fortunes.

It is “illogical” to suspend an organizer and assemblyman in a rival party’s stronghold, Afoko fired the top hierarchy of the party, even though as Chairman he sacked a Deputy Communications Director of the NPP, Perry Okudzeto, who also hails from the Volta Region.