Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has ruled out assertions that the crisis within the New Patriotic Party would affect the party’s fortune in the 2016 general election.
He described the crisis as a storm in a teacup, noting the party’s chances of winning big in the 2016 elections was manifested in the just ended district level elections in which he claimed candidates sympathetic to the party won big.
“Last week Tuesday, there was a manifestation of this where (though this district assembly election isn’t partisan) a lot of our party people were winning their elections,” he said on TV3’s New Day newspaper review segment Monday.
In Winneba, he claimed voters told the candidates who went campaigning that they will only vote for them if they were sympathetic to the NPP, adding “Ordinarily, they should have assessed people on their own weight”
“If today in Winneba, out of 18 seats, NPP people who stood had 13 and NDC had just 5 and across the country you hear the numbers are looking good for NPP, I can assure you that it gives us the confidence to continue with our campaign,” he said.
The NPP has in the past year been faced with internal wrangling for various reasons but the situation was heightened in May following the death of Alhaji Adams Mahama, the Upper East Regional Chairman of the party.
Currently, the party is believed to have been divided, with the General Secretary Kwabena Agyei-Agyepong and Chairman Paul Afoko, said to be working against the party’s flag-bearer, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo.
Although Mr. Afenyo-Markin conceded that the crisis was becoming a problem, he said his conclusion on a possible victory is based on the fact that the foot soldiers are unfazed by the development and ready to vote the NPP into power.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin said there are senior members of the party who are working to resolve the party’s internal bickering, and urged all party members and executives to calm down.
He asked them to seek the bigger interest of the party, saying, “the biggest interest of the party is paramount”.
“Ghanaians want a change; they want a new leadership to run or steer the affairs of this country. Don’t let us give our people who have failed, who do not know governance, who are being dictated to by IMF to think that there is a window of ventilation for them,” he said in apparent reference to the governing party.
Commenting on the invitation by the Police to the first National Vice Chairman of Freddie Blay, who is said to have diverted funds of the party, Mr. Afenyo-Markin said the Police does not have the right to invite a suspect.
“By law, the police cannot invite a suspect, you arrest a suspect. The police can invite a witness or somebody who they consider a complainant in a matter or somebody who they think can assist them in investigating a matter,” he averred.
He said once a person is a suspect in a case, that person ought to be arrested by the police but not invited, adding “I don’t understand the courtesy for some big men”.
Responding, Deputy Communications Minister, Felix Kwakye-Ofosu, asked Mr. Afenyo-Markin not to be deceived into believing the NPP will wrestle power from the National Democratic Congress in 2016.
“Let him not deceive himself with the results of the district assembly elections. First of all, they are not partisan elections. Again, people look at personal choices; what they like about a candidate or not and make their decision” he advised Mr. Afenyo-Markin.
