NPP Power Games Deepens…. Oquaye Fires Akofo, Agyepong

Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong 
The unilateral decision by the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, with support from the National Chairman, Paul Afoko, to relieve two top officials of their duties at the party's headquarters has strongly been condemned.

The NPP Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, chaired by Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, said the action of the two party officers was in direct contravention of the party's Constitution and therefore was null and void and should be reversed.

The affected officers were the Director of Finance and Administration, Kwadwo Opare-Hammond and Perry Okudzeto, former Acting Director of Communications, who were asked to 'proceed on leave' with no specific reasons assigned.

But Mr Agyepong, in a statement issued last night, said the constitutional committee has no mandate to take such a decision.

Following the confusion that greeted these dismissals and the subsequent appointment of nine deputy communications directors by the General Secretary, the Constitutional and Legal Committee of the party was mandated by the NPP Council of Elders, chaired by C.K. Tedem, to look into the matter for a way out.

After a careful consideration of circumstances under which those dismissals and fresh appointments were made, the committee described Mr Agyepong's decision as 'unconstitutional' since it was without recourse to his own colleagues on the National Steering Committee and the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.

Reasons
In a memorandum to the NEC and the Council of Elders dated August 25, 2014—a copy of which is in the possession of DAILY GUIDE—the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee noted; 'The appointment authority which is the NEC is the one to take steps which relate to the appointee. It is our considered opinion, therefore, that the decision regarding Okudzeto should be rescinded, if it was not a collective decision of NEC.'

It continued, 'Assuming this was not done as a collective decision of the NEC or its Steering Committee, then our committee respectively considers this an anomaly.'

It therefore made recommendations for the two to be re-instated while rendering the appointment of nine others null and void.

In view of the fact that provisions of the party's constitution enjoin collaboration between the General Secretary, the Steering Committee, NEC and coupled with the fact that the Steering Committee is responsible for the daily management of the affairs of the party, the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee said it found the directive given for those officers to proceed on leave very untenable.

The body expressed serious reservations about the decision of Mr Agyepong who prides himself as the 'Chief Executive Officer' (CEO) and Paul Afoko, who also boasts of being the 'chairman and leader' of the party to issue letters of 'proceed on leave' to officers of the party.

'The democratic NPP should also be careful not to employ methods as 'proceed on leave' etc which we all know has a certain connotation in Ghanaian politics,' it cautioned.

Quoting Article 9 F(ii) of the NPP's Constitution which states: 'The national secretariat shall consist of the General Secretary, the National Organiser, the Director of Finance, the Director of Communications, the Director of Campaign Strategy and such other personnel as the National Executive Committee may appoint' to back its argument, the committee emphasised, 'It is beyond controversy that if Deputy Communication Directors are part of the Secretariat, then NEC has the sole prerogative of appointing them. This is clear.'

Nullification
Mike Ocquaye
It insisted, 'Nowhere is the General Secretary or any other officer or organ of the party given the power to appoint such personnel. For the sake of emphasis and to avert future controversy, it is hereby stated that only NEC has the power to appoint all other personnel of the Secretariat,' making useless the previous decision.

In view of that it stated, 'It follows from the foregoing that the recent appointment of Deputy Communications Directors is unconstitutional if it was without the participation of NEC.'

In the peculiar case of Opare-Hammond, it underscored, 'The Committee finds the comments reportedly made by the General Secretary on an Accra-based radio station, Peace FM, that the Director of Finance was removed from office for committing some acts bordering on financial improprieties, premature, since he was not removed from office or dismissed but asked to proceed on leave.'

Apart from that, it said, 'If the General Secretary contemplated a dismissal of the Director of Finance on the ground of his having committed any financial malpractice, natural justice necessarily dictates that the specific charge of financial malpractice should have been levelled against him for him to be given a hearing before disciplinary proceedings would be instituted against him, in line with the party's constitution.'

Training
This, the committee said, was because 'It is trite learning that where any decision adverse to the interests of a citizen is to be made by any person, that person ought to be given a hearing.'

It is therefore considering the option of organising a legal orientation programme based on the party's constitution and related matters with the aim of strengthening the appreciation of the constitution thereby encouraging adherence to the constitution by its members.

Kwabena Hits Back
In Mr Agyepong's statement, he averred, 'The attention of the National Headquarters of the NPP has been drawn to a report from the chairman of the Constitutional and Legal Committee making rounds in the media and wish to state emphatically that neither the Steering Committee, National Executive Committee nor National Council has referred the matter at issue to the constitutional and legal committee.

'In good faith and in accordance with Article 9B (5) of the NPP constitution, any report of any standing committee should duly be submitted to the Steering Committee for consideration. This was not the case.'

Advice Versus Mandate
He said, 'Assuming without admitting that the matter was even referred to the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, they could only proffer an opinion for consideration. That opinion can only be advisory and not mandatory.'

He described the committee's action as 'unsolicited opinion on a purely administrative matter' and added that it was 'improper, an anomaly and a gross abuse of due process in our party.' He urged all party members to 'disregard the said publication with all the contempt it deserves.'

By Charles Takyi-Boadu & William Yaw Owusu