OPEN LETTER TO PAUL AFOKO

OPEN LETTER TO PAUL AFOKO 

From IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN’S FOLDER 

Dear Paul Afoko,

As a democrat and an ardent follower of Ghana’s geopolitics, I have observed, with considerable interest, the unfolding developments in your party (the NPP) regarding your “chairmanship status” and other related issues and wish to communicate my concerns to you. But before that, I wish to, first and foremost, let you know that I was one of your greatest admirers especially in the buildup to the NPP national delegate congress which saw you elected as the party’s national chairman until you decided to meet your waterloo and proceed on the tangent of vindictiveness and self-destruction. Among other reasons, I supported you in that contest because I felt you unduly suffered so much vitriol and character assassination from some of your own party folks, which I found, rather unfair and reprehensible to say the least. 

I also supported you because we both hail from the upper east region, a region that was generally seen as a “no go area” for your party. It was, at the time, rightly or wrongly, widely perceived that no northerner could ever clinch the chairmanship position of the NPP, a supposed “Akan party”. Truly, you made us [northerners] proud by making nonsense of this so called wide perception by becoming the first national chairman of the party from the northern part of the country. However, our happiness and pride was short-lived when you OVERESTIMATED your powers and thought you could rebirth the party by undoing everything in the party, forgetting that the NPP is a conservative party. Your actions were therefore fiercely resisted by not only the leadership of the party, but also the rank and file. 

You however sought to stubbornly call the bluff of everybody in the party in order to proceed with your unwavering pertinacity to achieving all that you wanted until you were LAWFULLY SUSPENDED (as upheld by the court) because no individual could be bigger than the party. And the decision to suspend you, a whole national chairman, for the justified reasons so advanced, meant that, the NPP, whether in government or opposition, would not tolerate gross misconduct, insubordination and impunity. Unfortunately, same is the culture we see today in our governance regime, where even plans are being advanced to free people who have been duly convicted by the nation’s Supreme Court based on their OWN PLEAS. How pathetic! I therefore expect the NPP to be proud of itself under the circumstances. Uncle Paul, the whip that was cracked on you, was highly meritorious, as upheld by the court, so no need for any unwarranted litigation.  

Ordinarily, your suspension ought to be the end of story. All you needed to do was to be remorseful and comport yourself so that you may be forgiven and possibly, reinstated but you consciously refused. Instead, you proceeded to court to CHALLENGE your suspension. Whilst at it, you also launched a SPIRITED CAMPAIGN to destroy the NPP and its flag bearer with all manner of vexatious and unsubstantiated allegations as well as blatant lies and verbal abrasives. You were, as expected, aided by some of the “rented media houses” that have always been anti-NPP in order to perpetuate this mischief against the very party you claim to love so much. How paradoxical! In fact, your relevance in Ghana’s politics, has today, been reduced to an embodiment of NPP destruction; such that, anytime any of the pro-government or NDC newspapers needed a negative story about the NPP to publish, they only had to call on you in order to get all that they need. You have become an authority and so popular in the NDC because you give them missiles to attack your own party. How shameful!   

Now that the court has thrown out your frivolous suit and reaffirmed your party’s position, the least I expect from you, is to swallow your pride, vanity and narcissistic tendencies and thus, adopt a reconciliatory disposition with the party. That is the surest way you can remain relevant in Ghana’s politics and not seen as a curse to your own, except if you are indeed doing the bidding of the governing NDC as alleged. Fortunately, your party has served notice, in a statement signed by the acting general secretary, communicating their decision to reconcile with you for the love of God and country. You don’t need a rocket science to know that any decision to APPEAL the case, would amount to an exercise in terminal futility and self-destruction. If you have no use of your resources, kindly invest same in charity. 

Uncle Paul, respectfully, you have already done so much disservice to your party, trying desperately to deny the millions of Ghanaians who are yearning for a REGIME CHANGE in order to have a comfortable life, that opportunity. You have unequivocally made your case but in the final analysis, the voice of the people and that of Allah has triumphed over yours. Please come to terms with this reality. You can’t always have your way. So, let bygones be bygones and move on. You recall that your excesses led to the gruesome murder of my uncle, a political colossus and an award winning philanthropist, Chairman Adams (May Allah grant him Jannah) allegedly, by your own blood brother. You have since not been able to step foot in the upper east region for any political activity. A lot of people in the party including some national, regional and constituency executives as well as ordinary party folks mounted incessant pressure on you to do the honourable thing but you were characteristically defiant. If you were really that principled, you didn’t need anybody to tell you to resign.

Respectfully, I want you to make me proud as a northerner as well as many of my likes who may be interested in politics someday. You have already had your turn and did what you could do with it. Please do not make politics UNATTRACTIVE for us and please do not spoil our [northern youth] chances of winning political positions in the foreseeable future because of where we come from. I’m not sure POSTERITY would ever forgive you if you did that. A word to the wise….. 

Assalamu alaikum

Your northern brother in the struggle for God and country,

IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN

Youth Activist/Social Commentator

Former NUGS Secretary

(0245335197) 

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