If you are a timid soul, get out of politics! – Obiri Boahen ‘tackles’ NPP National Chairman

Former deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahen, has criticized the approach used by the National Chairman of the NPP, Stephen Ntim, in handling the agitations of some NPP MPs asking for the dismissal of Ken Ofori-Atta and Charles Adu Boahen. He said in an interview with Okay FM that the never-before-seen action of the MPs could create political instability if not handled well. Obiri Boahen stated that he expected the NPP chairman to have held a crunch meeting with the party leadership and its steering committee and informed them about how dire the situation was rather than issuing a holding statement. “This is not the usual NPP and NDC politics on who did this or who did that. This is a very serious national issue that goes down to national stability of the country and western democracy. It is scary. Nothing like this has happened before in Ghana ever since Don Diego Di Azambuja landed in Ghana. "It’s nearing 100 out of 138 MPs if you just add 20. And the chairman of the party says…what are you coming to do? Stephen Ntim what are you coming to do? If you are a timorous soul, please get out of politics. If you don’t have courage, exit politics. Stephen Ntim, as the chairman of the party….this thing is scary for the party. “The statement you issued, you have said you will hold crunch meeting with the National Executive Committee and steering committee this Friday to inform them about the development. You said in your statement that ‘party leadership will control’…what will you control? What is coming is scary,” he said. On Tuesday October 25, a group of NPP MPs held a press conference to demand that Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen be sacked from their respective roles. According to them, new faces in their stead will inject confidence in the economy which is on slope of decline. Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi, the Member of Parliament for the Asante-Akim North Constituency, who spoke on behalf of the over 80 MPs said they will boycott the 2023 budget reading and debate if President Akufo-Addo fails to dismiss his appointees. NPP in a statement signed by Stephen Ntim said it was engaging with the government, the Parliamentary Group and other stakeholders while calling for calm. Following this, the president has held meeting with MPs and party members where it is reported that he has appealed to them to allow Ken Ofori-Atta in particular complete the IMF negotiations. You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: DS/SARA