High on the agenda would be whether or not the party chairman Paul Afoko and the General Secretary Kwabena Agyepong, should continuously stay in office in the wake of deafening calls for their removal or step aside momentarily.
Perceptions of deep-seated factionalism and infighting among the rank and file of the opposition party, appears to be gaining impetus following the ghastly demise of the party’s Upper East Regional Chairman, Adams Mahama, who was buried on Saturday.
Mr. Adams Mahama, who left behind four children and a number of dependants both within and outside his family as a renowned and successful businessman, died a day after he was bathed with acid.
His attackers, alleged to be from within the opposition NPP, are perceived to have links with party’s National Chairman Paul Afoko and the General Secretary Kwabena Agyepong, who both had a misunderstanding with him a fortnight before his shocking death.
There has been rising tension in the party compelling the police to provide constant security at the party’s headquarters in Accra.
The tension was extended to the funeral grounds where some persons in a peaceful demonstration wielded placards calling for unity, but mainly demanding the dismissal of the two national executives from the party.
Despite heavy police and military presence at the funeral, it was an arduous task controlling the crowd.
For now, police are holding one suspect, Gregory Afoko, who is coincidentally a brother to the National NPP Chairman Paul Afoko, for his alleged role in the acid attack.
Even the family of the late Alhaji Adams, without mentioning names, believe some national executives of the party had a hand in his death and appealed to the flagbearer at the funeral grounds to expel such individuals from the party.
Reports are that the sudden meeting at the regional level, is to galvanize views on whether the two national executives who have come under-pressure should step aside in the interim or stay.
But there is also another suggestion that the meeting may be seeking the consensus of the regional executives to push for an emergency delegates congress which can legally oust the two leaders.
Even before that meeting comes to a successful end, disagreements have set in as TV3’s Ashanti Regional Correspondent, William Evans Nkum, reports that the meeting at the Georgia Hotel ended abruptly.
tv3network.com has gathered that similar meetings are taking place in the Central, Western, Eastern and other regions.
Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman
Meanwhile Ashanti Regional Chairman of the party, Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has told TV3’s Evans Nkum that all constituencies in the region have been given a brief period to decide on the fate of the two leaders.
He is also calling on the two leaders to heed to the calls of the masses and step aside while investigations into the death of Adams Mahama continues.
Political watchers believe the agenda for the meeting is ill-timed since the two leaders have not been proven legally to have played any role in the criminal act that led to the death of Adams Mahama.
They have cautioned the party’s seeming comedy of errors in handling the crisis at hand, may only deepen the cracks further.
By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/3news.com/Ghana
