-Appiah-Ofori
Posted: The Chronicle | Wednesday, August 5, 2009
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The Member of Parliament for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa in the Central Region, Mr PC Appiah-Ofori has threatened to strip the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu if they dare expel him from the party.
“I don’t want to do anything that will destroy the party, but if they continue to threaten me or expel me from the party then they should not blame me for any mishap,” he warned.
Though he has not yet been summoned before the party's Disciplinary Committee neither has he received any form of query about his claim that his colleague NPP MPs were influenced and later compensated by the previous government to vote in favour of the sale of Ghana Telecom (GT) to Vodafone UK, Mr. Appiah-Ofori is confident that any attempt to throw him out will not serve the interest of the party.
Speaking to journalists, he accused the Minori1y leader of being behind the call to expel him from the NPP just to settle personal scores with him.
When the acclaimed anticorruption crusader was asked his basis for accusing Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu of orchestrating his expulsion calls, he claimed the Minority Leader misconducted himself once and he (Appiah-Ofori) “abused him on the air at one radio station in Takoradi.”
“I abused him, told him that he is stupid and therefore he is anxious to get retribution. He organized the NPP caucus in Parliament to place me before the investigations committee headed by Papa Owusu-Aokomah,” he added.
He continued; “I went there to say, yes. 1 abused him because he disparaged me, they played the tape and what I said was on the tape...even today, if he crosses my path I will abuse him. He is looking for an opportunity to probably incite the rest of the MPs against me but they have to be very careful because I have documents to prove my case and some other things.”
The Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa legislator further noted that “I will be the most stupid person to come out to say these things against the part but if they seek me, I will be ready to defend myself, and if in the cause of defending myself, any damage is done to the party, then they should not hold me responsible."
The beleaguered MP traced the root of his predicament to concerns he raised about the sale of GT to Vodafone when the deal was brought to Parliament for debate and approval.
According to him, most of the NPP MPs who were then in the Majority did not examine the agreement very well to see whether it was in the interest of Ghana or not, before voting in favour of it.
Mr. Appiah Ofori said he was compelled by circumstances to draw his colleague MPs’ attention to the negative impact of the sale and that it would not benefit Ghanians since the sale was not in the interest of the nation.
According to PC, when he spoke to Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, who was then a member of the leadership of the Majority, and he (Mensah-Bonsu) appealed to him not to release the information on the floor of the house, because it might disturb the government's plan to sell GT.
As a result, PC alleged that his colleague MPs colluded with the Speaker not to allow him speak in parliament on the day in question. It was after the Vodafone deal had been passed that Appiah Ofori claimed he heard the NPP MPs who voted for the sale of GT were rewarded with a sum of US $5,000 each.
Upon hearing this news, he claimed he queried the Mr Mensah-Bonsu who confessed to him that it was true. “I then wrote to the party leadership that they give me my share of the money,” he noted.
The party leadership and MPs have rejected the claims.
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