Kufuor Speaks On NPP ‘Secret Meeting’

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has initiated moves to restore peace and unity in the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Mr Kufuor, who is brokering the peace deal, therefore hosted a meeting at his Airport West residence in Accra, the outcome of which had been leaked to the public, particularly through the pro-NDC newspapers, to the embarrassment of the former president.

With what appears to be a twisted report, the former president has denied that the meeting was a secret one as touted by the pro-NDC press.

The meeting follows months of acrimonious and rancorous relation among the leadership of the party, which has led to suspicion and mistrust among the rank and file of the NPP, especially the aftermath of the death of Adams Mahama, Upper East Regional chairman of the party, through acid attack.

The party is virtually split into two factions—those who support the duo of Paul Afoko, national chairman whose brother has been linked with the murder of Adams Mahama and Kwabena Agyepong, General Secretary, and those who do not. The two are said to be working against the chances of the flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in the 2016 elections.

Nana Addo himself had called for an end to the seeming tension in the party.

A statement issued from the office of the former president and signed by his special aide and spokesperson, Frank Agyekum, indicated that Mr Kufuor decided to invite heads of some religious denominations, as well as some other prominent citizens in the country who are not known members of the party, to help broker peace and brotherliness among the top hierarchy of the party.

The meeting was said to have been held openly in President Kufuor's house.

It therefore baffles the former president as to why any individual or group of persons would tout the meeting as a 'secret meeting.'

The spokesperson said, 'The choice of these heads of the Christian denominations was based on the fact that most of the members of the party hierarchy involved in these 'peace moves' belong to the churches headed by them.'

Apart from that, the office of the former president noted with emphasis that 'the meeting was neither adversarial nor inquisitorial' and that 'it was a very cordial and fruitful one full of advice and exhortation to the hierarchy of the party present.'

He therefore described as unfortunate that anybody would describe it as 'emotional.'

Apart from the NPP members, the meeting was said to have been attended by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev Prof Emmanuel Martey, Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, Bishop Charles Palmer Buckle and Pastor Mensa Otabil, among others.

Strangely, immediately after the meeting, details appeared in the pro-NDC newspapers singling out Nana Akufo-Addo for bashing in a very suspicious manner.

DAILY GUIIDE has learnt that some unscrupulous characters at the meeting recorded voices and are circulating them on social media, all in an effort to bring down the flagbearer.

NPP executives have been complaining that whenever they hold meetings the outcome is published by the NDC newspapers, raising suspicion that some leaders of the party are in bed with the ruling party and feeding it with internal issues of the NPP in order to keep it in perpetual opposition.

Last week the NPP National Organiser, John Boadu, publicly expressed disappointment that all the memos he sent to the General Secretary, Kwabena Agyepong, found space in the pro-NDC newspapers, wondering what the motive of the people leaking the NPP internal memos to their opponents was.

By Charles Takyi-Boadu