Blocs are battling for the soul of the NPP - Ablakwa

Though his former boss, the late President John Evans Atta Mills, adopted the principle of ‘dzi wo fie asem” to wit mind you own business, it appears one of his protégés, Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa has abandoned that dogma in sharp contrast to the principles of his political “god father”, wading into the internal wranglings within the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and describing current happenings in the opposition party after the Supreme Court verdict as “massive confusion” and a “battle for the soul of the party”.

The Deputy Minister of Education traced the antecedence of what he perceives as the chaos, which has bedeviled the opposition NPP.

“The confusion began by the former flagbearer (Nana Akufo-Addo) indicating that he accepts the Supreme Court verdict, though he disagrees, he would not seek review. And that he is going to take a rest and think about his political future, and will make an announcement after that reflective moment”. Then we had a leading member of the party descend on him that he has not consulted them for indicating that he will not go for review”.

“The General Secretary (Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie also known as Sir John) waded in. He said that the party would go for a review. He said that authoritatively. That same General Secretary is now also saying that Nana Akufo-Addo will run in 2016 and that if he is in a wheelchair, he will personally be pushing the wheelchair to make sure that Nana Akufo-Addo runs in 2016. So there is a lot of confusion. You don’t know what they are aiming at, or what really the agenda is,” he said on Metro TV’s “Good Morning Ghana” show.

This, according to the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, is a “battle for the soul of the party”.

He bemoaned the fact that NPP National Executives, such as the Chief Scribe, who are supposed to provide a level playing field before the contest for a presidential candidate is done, have already pitched camp with Nana Akufo-Addo, and that to him, is an indication of more trouble to come.

Okudzeto Ablakwa also alluded to verbal attacks on those who appear to be opposed to the idea of retaining Nana Addo for election 2016 by Paul Collins Appiah Ofori, a former Member of Parliament for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa constituency, and comments by Michael Ampong, another leading member of the party on various media platforms.

“It is clear that the center is not holding,” he opined.