Posted: Wednesday, July 8, 2009.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
It is now certain that the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) will apply the stiffest form of punishment on its own Member of Parliament for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa, P.C Appiah Ofori who responds to the title of an anti-corruption crusader.
If what General Secretary of the party, Nana Ohene-Ntow is saying is anything worth considering, then, it is most certain that the MP faces a possible expulsion or suspension from the NPP.
“We want Mr. Appiah Ofori to understand that he is not an independent Member of Parliament, it could be that he crossed or to leave the party but we would apply the rules of the party and whatever the rules dictate, we will implement those rules”, he emphasised.
The rules of the NPP, according to him, dictates ‘if anybody consistently drags the name of the party in the mud, and refuses to make amends, that person ought to be sanctioned’, by means of suspension or expulsion.
This follows allegations he made to the committee tasked to investigate the sale of Ghana Telecom (GT) to Vodafone to the effect that some of his colleague MP’s in the NPP benefited from the deal since according to him, they were paid US $5,000 to vote in favour of the sale the company when it came to Parliament.
Nana Ohene-Ntow yesterday told Joy Fm’s ‘Supers Morning show’ host, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah “we will take a firm decision before the close of this week.”
Latest by the end of Friday, he noted that the party would communicate its decision to the MP who is currently attending an agric workshop/conference in Britain.
He said the party was now fed up with Appiah Ofori’s indecision and his tantrums since it is causing a lot of disaffection for the NPP.
Under the current, he said the leadership of the party have been meeting to decide on which of the two options (expulsion or suspension) to impose on the MP who is seen as not just a seen as a ‘loud mouth’ but also a ‘black sheep’ in the party considering the way and manner in which he continuous to put the party’s name and image in bad light.
According to him, what Mr. Appiah has sought to do over the years is to undermine the cohesion and cooperation of the NPP, which he said does not augur well for the unity of the party.
He imagined how their political opponents, especially their colleagues in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) jumping at it and making a mountain out of a molehill when the allegations are indeed not true.
The General Secretary stressed the belief that the MP in question may have some other motive behind what he has been doing either than what he merely claims to be fighting or exposing corruption, as he wants Ghanaians to believe.
Asked whether might want to sanction Mr Appiah Ofori for the simple reason that he is not playing to the gallery, Ohen-Ntow said that was far from the question, stressing that every organisation has got rules which its members are to subscribe to.
“After all, it’s a question of reaching compromises and building consensus, if on a consistent basis, a person shows that they (he) cannot go with the tenets of the group or an association, I think the next normal thing to do is to say that, look, this is a bunch of crooks, you people are unholy, you are unclean, I can’t live with you because am too holy and am too clean for your environment”, he stressed.
In any case, he said, P.C Appiah Ofori has a choice to resign from the party if he feels uncomfortable in their company.
As a man who is supposed to be a “honourable’ Member of the country’s august Parliament, Ohene-Ntow wondered the kind of intimate things Mr. Appiah Ofori he goes on radio to say about his own family, stressing ‘those things could even embarrass the party.”
He did not see the need for the party to investigate the matter since according to him, it is not true and has no basis for any such investigations, asking rhetorically “why did he withdraw that letter he sent to the Chief of Staff in the first place?”, saying “we don’t have anything to investigate.”
“I mean, there is just too much that this man has done, we’ve tried, we discussed, he will come and apologise, am sorry, the next day there is another thing, I think it is about time”, he noted.
But Mr Appiah Ofori in a recent interview with The Chronicle said nobody could remove him from the party and dared anybody to take the initiative.
He called the bluff of those calling for him to be expelled from the party.
He says nobody can remove him from the party since there are laws and laid down procedures governing the party.
Until those procedures are followed, he says “I will not resign and nobody can remove me from the party because of this.”
This was in reaction to calls by some members of his own party and Political Science Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kwasi Amakye who are calling for the anti-corruption crusader to be sacked from the party for his critical nature of certain actions of members and officials of the party.
“If I have accused my party of being corrupt, I should be placed before the appropriate disciplinary committee to be probed and it is found out that indeed I have accused my own party of corrupt practices, the appropriate disciplinary action should be taken against me”, he emphasized.
If not, he noted “then leave these nonentities to their own devices.”
He however indicated his preparedness to resign from the party if a properly constituted committee of enquiry finds him guilty of having flouted the NPPs constitution.
In the absence of this, he says he will continue to be a member of the party and thus called the bluff of those asking for him to be expelled from the party or better still resign since according to him, their concerns are misplaced.
“If I speak against corruption and somebody says by so-doing I’m bringing down the party’s image, by so-doing I’m not going by what the party wants, am not applying myself to party aspirations and programmes, by implication, he is saying that the party is against the fight against corruption, the party condones and connives such corrupt practices, the itself is involved in corrupt practices, so anytime I speak against it, then I’m speaking against the party”, he noted.
He thus wondered why people could read such weird meanings into his stance against corruption which is fast creeping into the Ghanaian moral fibre.
In any case, he noted that if he should go contrary to the provisions of the party’s constitution, it behoves on the disciplinary committee to give him a fair hearing and give him an opportunity to defend himself.
If the committee finds his conduct to be wrong, he said “they should pronounce or announce my expulsion to the National Executive Committee (NEC), if I am not satisfied, I can also appeal to the National Council.”
He therefore emphasized that people like Kwasi Amakye and those asking for him to be sacked or resign from the party does not know exactly what they are talking about since according to him, they are not familiar with the party’s constitution which prescribes procedures to follow when such matters arise.
Mr. Appiah-Ofori could not comprehend why anybody would call on him to resign for referring to certain public servants as ‘thieves’ when an Auditor-General’s report has indicted for having embezzled or stolen state funds, asking rhetorically “if I say this, have I spoken against the party?, If the Auditor-General comes to say that public servants have looted the country and I repeat this, have I spoken against the party.”
Kwasi Amakye on Monday asked the leadership of the NPP to expel Mr. Appiah-Ofori from the party for his critical nature of the party, stressing “"Those who choose to be members of an organization would definitely like to work for it to succeed. Generally, these activities involve conflicts, and everybody would necessarily not agree to issues when they come up, but you don't go out publicly to take a stance against your party, to me that is the position of Appiah-Ofori in the NPP," he stressed.
He wondered whether the MP has ever sat down with the executives of the party to suggest to them solutions to problems in the party, and act in away that would help the party realize its aspirations.
