I’ll slap somebody – Kofi Jumah fumes

Former Member of Parliament for Asokwa, Maxwell Kofi Jumah has threatened to deal with individuals or groups in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who try to use the names of Nana Akufo-Addo and Alan Kyerematen to run their campaigns.

He believed the continuous use of the names of the two individuals was deepening cracks in the party and therefore wanted the party people to desist from such acts.

If he had his own way, Mr Jumah, who was speaking on Accra-based Neat FM, said “I will sack them from the party” and “those who don’t even have their brains to push the party forward but would want to align themselves to Nana Akufo-Addo or Alan Kyerematen, I will want to give them a dirty slap.”

Later, Mr Jumah, a former Mayor of Kumasi, told DAILY GUIDE, “Anybody who goes around and attempts to say vote for me because I am Nana, because I am Alan, whatever, is not serious.

“If you have nothing to offer, stay out because you are not running for a position in Alan Kyerematen political party or Nana Akufo-Addo political party.” He was however quick to add that “it is not as widespread as it used to be towards the 2012 elections; it’s come down significantly.

“There are still some brushes here and there that need to be crushed and it should be,” he advised.

Conviction

He was of the firm belief that those who go around using the names of Nana Addo and Alan Kyerematen to run their campaign were those without any ideas and programmes to run the party and therefore stressed the need for the rank and file of the party to reject such individuals and group of persons at the polls.

In view of this, he advised that “they should stop what they are doing.

“It is NPP and NPP doesn’t belong to any one of them; just like everybody will pass through and leave, and NPP will be there.”

Asked what impact the said factionalism could have on the party, the former legislator noted that “the ugly head of factionalism, if not managed properly, could of course make an impact.”

At the moment, he claimed it was a marginal issue within the party which had to be dealt with head on before it manifests into a problem.

Kofi Ghana, as he is sometimes called, was however of the strong conviction that the internal power struggle (factionalism) in the party had the potential of affecting its chances in the 2016 general elections.

He considered it “a distraction that takes the minds off bigger problems in the party which is how to deal with the fraudulent Electoral Commission.”

He charged the leadership of the NPP to “shine their eyes”, since “elections are not only won at the polling stations. If you focus on that, you open a window for the Electoral Commission to manipulate elections including registration, printing of ballot papers, duplication of serial numbers and so on.”

Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey

In another development, Captain Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey, an aspiring candidate, has said he remains a forerunner in the race for the position of General-Secretary of the party.

“I have heard some deliberate propaganda being circulated that I have bowed out of the race for the position of NPP General-Secretary; if those propagandists do not understand my campaign strategy, they better keep quiet.

“I am making it clear that I am ahead in the race and very confident that I am winning to become the next General-Secretary of the NPP,” he said.

Captain Effah-Dartey was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Accra on Tuesday after meeting with some constituencies to solicit their votes.

He said the NPP urgently needed someone like him to help administer and machinate the party to recapture power from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2016.

“I am not coming to deliver speeches. I am not going to be an airwave General-Secretary, but I am coming as a grassroots man mainly with strategies to cushion the NPP to victory come 2016,” he said.

Captain Effah-Dartey said he had the necessary experience and methodology to restructure and strengthen the party’s structures in every nook and cranny of the country.

He said as a General- Secretary, he would ensure that polling station and constituency executives were adequately resourced to enable them to work efficiently to canvas for more supporters towards the next electioneering campaign.