My suspension too long; I miss my job – Kwabena Agyapong

Mr Kwabena Agyepong says the national leadership of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), must listen to those clamouring for his reinstatement as General Secretary since his suspension has been “too long”.

Mr Agyepong was suspended indefinitely along with the party’s Chairman Paul Afoko and Second Vice Chair Sammy Crabbe for allegedly working against the interest of the NPP ahead of the 2016 general elections.

The National Executive Committee of the NPP acted based on findings of the party’s Disciplinary Committee and suspended the three on 10 December 2015.

The suspensions followed a petition brought against the three by some NPP members.

However, some groups within the party, including polling station executives in the Ashanti Region, insist Mr Agyepong deserves to be given back his mandate.

Addressing a press conference in Kumasi on Monday, October 16, Mr Tweneboah Kodua, convener for the group, appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, the National Executive Committee (NEC), the National Council of the party and former President John Agyekum Kufuor, to reconsider the suspension and call Mr Agyepong back.

“… So our humble appeal to the National Council of the party is to recall Mr Kwabena Agyei Agyepong back to his office,” he stated.

Speaking to Accra-based Joy News at the NPP’s Extraordinary Delegates’ Conference in Kumasi on Sunday, 17 December, Mr Agyepong said the leadership of the party must give an ear to those pushing for his reinstatement.

He was asked: “There is also a strong push by some people in the party for your reinstatement, would you want the national leadership to listen to them to get you back your job?

“Of course, I think being on suspension for over two years is too long. I think our constitution doesn’t provide for that, it didn’t envisage the General Secretary of the party to be absent from his job for two years, it’s not there but I hope that good sense will prevail, I mean I’m happy with myself, I thank God for the heart that I have, I’m very content.”

Mr Agyepong said he misses being General Secretary of the party he loves.

“Of course I do, I mean I got a very emphatic mandate in Tamale, very big emphatic mandate in Tamale, and that’s why you see lots of people where I am, wherever I go, because the party grassroots, they recognise my long-standing dedication and service to this political tradition, and, so, I love it. Yes what happened in 2015, I’ve said to you because of my love for the party, I’ve been very silent, not that I agree with the decision of the national executive to suspend me, I never did but I respected that decision because I love the party and I believe that the party should be supreme, and I think in the collective interest of the bigger picture, I’m happy that God has granted us our wish, we are now in government, so, any true patriot of the NPP should be seeking to do their little to support the president and his government to achieve our aims, so that we can deliver the people of Ghana; that for me is the national interest, and if we allow the national interest to determine whatever we do, all these little little things that sometimes you see, will go into the background.”

In his view, a “constitution is a sacred document, I mean you touch it when there is a compelling need”.

On calls by his critics within the party for him to show remorse before being accepted back, Mr Agyepong said: “You apologise when you have done wrong and I want to be honest with you, nobody has proved any wrong.”

On President Nana Akufo-Addo, he said: “I went to see him at home to congratulate him, because some of us saw that in him many years ago before many even dreamt of it and we supported him in very difficult times against the odds but life is full of a lot of thins – ups, downs – but whatever has happened has happened, he is the president, we thank God for that, and I pray that he gets all the counsel that he needs to build this country, to implement the choices that he has made for the good of the people of Ghana, that is what is most important – the Ghanaian people, the national interest and that is what we should look at, that what we should target.”