Nana Yaw Osei, spokesperson for former National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paul Afoko, has emphasized that his boss’s role in the party’s 2016 electoral victory remains a critical part of the NPP’s success story.
Mr. Osei credited Mr. Afoko’s organizational and leadership skills for laying the groundwork for the NPP’s landslide win under then-flagbearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
“Afoko and his team organized the party’s parliamentary and presidential primaries for the 2016 election before he left office. Their structure and leadership delivered 169 MPs and a president. Nobody can take that credit from him,” he said.
“We did all the groundwork — others came to reap the benefits of that victory.”
Mr. Osei argued that the NPP’s declining parliamentary numbers since 2016 underscore the need for revitalized leadership within the party, adding:
“From 169 MPs in 2017 to 137 in 2020, and now down to 87 — can we say this party is in a better place?”
His remarks come after Paul Afoko formally announced his intention to contest the NPP’s National Chairmanship position in the upcoming national executive elections.
In a statement titled “Declaration of Intention to Contest the National Chairmanship Position of the New Patriotic Party,” Mr. Afoko said his decision followed “deep reflection and calls from party members and stakeholders for renewed leadership.”
Mr. Afoko was suspended in 2015 as NPP National Chairman after the party’s National Executive Committee adopted a recommendation from the Disciplinary Committee, following a petition by the Council of Elders.
He was accused at the time of working against then-flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo’s campaign and of refusing to honor several invitations to appear before the committee before the suspension was finalized.
