Indefinite suspension simply means expulsion

The vigorous campaign reportedly launched by a section of the membership of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to have the indefinitely suspended General-Secretary of the party, Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, restored to his former post stands to be a very tough sell (See “Kwabena Agyapong's Reinstatement Campaign Thickens” Citifmonline.com / Modernghana.com 10/23/17).

It is a tough sell because an indefinite suspension invariably presupposes that the reasons for which such a punitive measure was taken, to begin with, border on the insufferably pernicious and institutionally far-reaching such that any attempt to clearly define the temporal bounds of such punishment may not be in both the short-term and long-term interests of the party.

In effect, what the indefinite suspensions of Messrs. Paul A. Afoko, A, yapong and Sammy Crabbe mean, in no uncertain terms, is that the former National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, namely, Mr. Afoko, and the party's Second-Vice Chairman, Mr. Crabbe, have absolutely no officially designated role to play in the NPP in the foreseeable future. “Foreseeable future,” in this context, simply means that as long as Nana Akufo-Addo, the substantive President of the Democratic Republic of Ghana, remains the de facto Chief or Head of the New Patriotic Party, Messrs. Afoko, Agyapong and Crabbe had better count themselves as total strangers to the party's Kokomlemle national headquarters. And on the latter count ought to be underscored the inescapable fact that the bulk of the grievances massed up against the three indefinitely suspended NPP's headquarters operatives verged on the personality and candidacy of the former Attorney-General and Justice Minister under the tenure of President John Agyekum-Kufuor.

Then, there was also the clearly defined two power-struggle polarities on one side of which Messrs. Afoko, Agyapong and Crabbe were imperiously ranged against staunch backers and sympathizers of the now-President Akufo-Addo. In other words, short of a dire craving for political self-strangulation or suicide, there is absolutely no way for Akufo-Addo to be itching to repose his confidence and that of the long-term interests of the party in the very players whose amply documented misdeeds have been objectively proven to have been geared towards the effective scuttling of the presidential ambitions of Ghana's former Foreign Minister.

In the main, now that I have had a little more time to critically examine the charges preferred against them, it clearly appears that Messrs. Agyapong and Crabbe are far more guilty of the flagrant breach of party rules and constitution than the putative ringleader of the abortive three-man anti-Akufo-Addo revolt or coup d'état, namely, Mr. Afoko. For starters, Messrs. Agyapong and Crabbe were indefinitely relieved of their posts because of gross insubordination. These two men had flatly refused to accept the definitive finality of the joint decision of at least four standing committees of the NPP to indefinitely suspend then-Chairman Afoko. Then, also, Mr. Agyapong is accused of holding both himself and a duly suspended Chairman Afoko as the only party executives authorized to authenticate documents verging on the official dealings of the New Patriotic Party with the long-besieged and credibility-challenged Electoral Commission (EC).

I hope those campaigning for the three indefinitely suspended NPP chiefs to be reinstated to their former posts have had enough time to ponder the grievances that led to their being sanctioned, in much the same way that yours truly has. We must also solemnly bear in mind that several party stalwarts and loyalists had lost their lives in the ensuing chaos and mayhem that wracked the party, amidst the near-apocalyptic internal firefight.

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