We were right in not involving other national officers in press conference - Kwabena Agyapong

The General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwabena Adjei Agyapong, has justified his decision with National Chairman Paul Afoko to hold a press conference at the party's headquarters Tuesday without involving other national executives of the party.

Speaking on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo', he said “whatever we did yesterday was right, we need to assert our authority as described by the party.”

A press conference called Messrs Agyapong and Afoko turned bloody when some unknown thugs wielding cudgels and machetes stormed the NPP Headquarters and disrupted the press briefing.

It took police intervention to calm things down.
Mr. Agyapong has come under severe criticism after he asked Deputy Communications Director Perry Okudzeto (who was acting as Communications Director of the party) to proceed on leave. He subsequently appointed new Deputy Diectors of Communication for the party without consulting the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the Steering Committee of the NPP.

First Vice Chairman, Freddie Blay and other national officers of the party publicly denounced Mr Agyapong and Mr Afoko for those decisions, accusing them of acting arbitrarily and in violation of the NPP's constitution.

To respond to the accusations, the two officers called a press conference Tuesday to inform the media about the circumstances that necessitated the decisions which had no backing of NEC.

Mr. Agyapong to Peace FM he and the Chairman deemed it proper to organize the press conference without informing the others because they were not the ones being attacked.

The press conference, he said was necessary because the world needed to know what was happening in the NPP.

Mr. Agyapong claimed that “the whole party has been organized against me” but but said he will not relent in his effort to bring sanity into the party.

He stressed that his decision to ask Perry Okudzeto and the Director of Finance, Opare Hammond, to proceed on leave is due to his desire to ensure transparency in the management of the party's finances.

He debunked claims that he is an autocratic leader saying that he operates an open and transparent office and anyone can freely come to him with any problems they are faced with in the performance of their duties.

According to him even though he has worked for close to 4 months and has not been paid, he has spent about GHȼ10,000 to pay workers and has not asked to be refunded but others ask for refund.

He said he has set aside his life for the party and therefore deserves to be treated better.

He encouraged party members to be truthful and dared anyone to come out and say anything he had done wrong since he assumed office.

The party he says, will only be able to wrestle power from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) if they unite as one.