The group argued that, his suspension should not be a conduit for dismissal, and that his rich experience in the party’ administration can help the party’s constitutional amendment processes, and also foster party unity.

Over Two Hundred members of the party, consisting thirty-one polling station executives and other party supporters, have signed a petition to the party headquarters for the reinstatement of Kwabena Agyepong.

Speaking at a press conference in Bawku, Spokesperson of the group, Abdulai Muntaica, said Mr. Kwabena Agyepong has demonstrated enough remorse to the decision of the party for his suspension, and has  showed immense support for the party’s victory in the 2016 general elections.

“We wish to state that, the suspension was in the right direction, but we want to add that it has served its purpose. We wish to make an honest appeal to the party’s hierarchy to begin the process of reinstating the suspended General Secretary to his elected position. We are also making a passionate plea on this singular intra-party discord, to his Excellency the president to intervene in his own way as the leader of the party, so that we may go back to normalcy and see our general secretary back to office”.

“We are conscious of the fact that, Kwabena Agyepong is not the only suspended executive, but the fact that although he disagrees with the suspension, he accepted it. He has also conducted himself honourably without any form of defiance to the decision of the party.”

“Even in his suspension, he went ahead to aid the party in his own small way by donating GH¢2,000.00 to some constituencies across the country, few days to the general election, which Bawku Central constituency was a beneficiary.”

The group also noted that “we think he has acted in good faith enough, and in obedience to the decision of the party. He has been patriotic to the party’s principles, representatives and agents, even in his complete disagreement of the suspension, and therefore deserves a call back to his elected position,“ Mr. Muntaica stated.

Several groups and individuals from across the country have been calling f0r the reinstatement of the suspended General Secretary, who was suspended alongside party chairman Paul Afoko, and 2nd National Vice Chairman, Sammy Crabbe.

We’ve not received any petition for Agyapong’s reinstatement – Blay

In November this year, acting National chair of the NPP, Freddie Blay, said the hierarchy of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), is yet to receive any official petition demanding the reinstatement of its suspended General Secretary, Kwabena Agyapong.

Speaking to Citi News, the acting National Chairman of the NPP, Freddy Blay, said the NPP had no intention of reversing, what he called, justified suspensions.

“Nothing has come before us. The National Executive Council took the decision. The National Council endorsed it. Nothing has been done about it… they were suspended indefinitely for some good reasons and nobody has thought it proper that this matter should be raised again.”

Mr. Blay further defended the party’s suspension as being the right move as it had no effect on the NPP’s election fortunes.

“There were people who were agitating that since they [Kwabena Agyapong, Sammy Crabbe and Paul Afoko] had been suspended, we were going to totally lose the election, particularly NDC or sympathetic media that support the NDC. They have been put to shame. We won.”

Reasons for Kwabena Agyepong suspension

A) Violation of Article 3(D) of the NPP constitution which enjoins members to publicly uphold the decisions of the party, through various acts including;

i. His disregard for NEC decision on 23rd October, 2015, suspending Mr. Paul Afoko.

ii. Various Public statements he made that cast the Party in bad light.

B) He engaged in unilateral actions and activities without consultation of, or authorization by the NEC, such as;

i. Writing to the Electoral Commission designating only himself and suspended Chairman Afoko as the only authorized signatories.

ii. Granting waivers to parliamentary aspirants

iii. Non-reference of legal matters to the proper legal Committee of the Party

iv. Interference with Constituency primaries against National Appeal Committee decisions and also, Court decisions.

v. Misrepresentation/misleading of NEC on status of some constituency primaries

vi. He, in conjunction with suspended Chairman Afoko and Sammy Crabbe, launched Party cards without authorizations from NEC.

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By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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In a suit sighted Citi News, Mr. Agyapong is asking the court to compel Chairman Wontumi to retract claims to the effect that the suspended executive plotted to ensure the NPP’s defeat in the 2016 election.

He is also seeking GHc 400,000 in damages.

Chairman Wontumi did not respond favorably to an earlier letter from Mr. Agyapong’s lawyers demanding an apology for the comments.

Mr. Agyapong had said he wanted the retraction “via the same medium [Nhyira FM] used in making them thus through the frequency modulation of the second defendant and to render an unqualified apology to the plaintiff via the same media.”

Mr. Agyapong also requested an apology letter from Chairman Wontumi “admitting his comments were untrue and unfortunate, and given his tacit commitment never again to spew such falsehood and scandalous defamatory remarks on the person of the plaintiff.”

The NPP suspended its 2nd Vice Chairman, Sammy Crabbe, alongside Mr. Agyapong in 2015, after they were accused of publicly rebelling against the party’s decision to indefinitely suspend its National Chairman, Paul Afoko.

This suit comes at a time some persons and groups have been campaigning for the reinstatement of Mr. Kwabena Agyapong.

It is unclear whether this court action will in anyway affect a possible reinstatement, considering the popularity of Chairman Wontumi within the NPP.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Kwabena Agyapong sues Wontumi; demands GHc400,000 appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Chairman Wontumi reportedly accused Mr. Agyepong of being a traitor in an interview on a Kumasi-based radio station, Nhyira FM, and also vowed not to allow the former secretary to be re-instated.

“Over my dead body; I will never allow Kwabena Agyepong to get reinstated as the NPP general secretary. This cannot happen…. last year by this time, some people were working very hard to see the NPP lose the elections, and Kwabena Agyepong was one of them …,” Wontumi reportedly said in the interview.

[contextly_sidebar id=”eyDizNgnA0nex1AV2R6h1O5O1nDACkpS”]But unhappy with the comments, Mr. Agyepong is demanding a formal apology from the NPP Chairman.

In a letter through his Lawyers –Sarfo Gyamfi and Associates – and addressed to Wontumi, Mr. Agyepong asked for a retraction of the statements.

“Our client wishes to communicate to you in person that he is not a traitor, he has never been one and will never be.”

Apologize by November 3 else…

“…our instructions are to demand, which we hereby do, that you immediately cease and desist from further making of such slanderous and false statements and unnecessary inciting of the general public and for that matter members of the New Patriotic Party against our client. We further demand that you through the same media used to publish the mentioned defamatory statements, retract and apologize for the defamatory and unsavory remarks on our client on both Nhyira FM and Neat FM by Friday 3rd November 2017,” the letter stated.

Mr. Agyepong in the letter also demanded “a formal letter apologizing to our client and your very tacit assurance that never again will you ever conduct yourself in such an unfortunate manner.”

Why Agyepong was suspended

Mr. Agyepong was suspended in December 2015 for publicly rebelling against the party’s decision to indefinitely suspend the party’s National Chairman, Paul Afoko.

He was suspended alongside the party’s Second Vice Chairman, Sammy Crabbe.

The National Executive Committee of the party found him guilty of violating Article 3(D) of the party’s constitution which enjoins members to publicly uphold the decisions of the party, through various acts.

He was also accused of engaging in “unilateral actions and activities without consultation of, or authorization by the NEC [National Executive Council].”

More NPP members demand Agyepong’s reinstatement

Some members of the party recently besieged the NPP head office in Accra to demand the reinstatement of Mr. Agyepong.

The group expressed concerns that there were veiled attempts to expel Kwabena Agyapong from the party.

Below is the full letter lawyers of Agyepong wrote to Wontumi:

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Wontumi hot for ‘defaming’ suspended Kwabena Agyepong appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He was seen clothed in an outfit made with with the NPP’s red and blue colours.

It is unclear whether Mr. Agyepong was at the conference on the invitation of the party.

The former executive of the party was suspended in December 2015 for publicly rebelling against the party’s decision to indefinitely suspend the national chairman, Paul Afoko.

He was suspended alongside the party’s Second Vice Chairman, Sammy Crabbe.

The National Executive Committee of the party found him guilty of violating Article 3(D) of the party’s constitution which enjoins members to publicly uphold the decisions of the party, through various acts.

He was also accused of engaging in “unilateral actions and activities without consultation of, or authorization by the NEC [National Executive Council].”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Kwabena Agyepong attends NPP delegates’ conference [Photos] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The referee pointed to the spot early in the second half after Ghanaian striker Abdul Majeed Waris went down in the box after an innocuous challenge from a Ugandan defender.

Andre Ayew stepped up to convert the penalty to give the Black Stars a 1-1 draw after the Ugandans had taken a shock first-half lead.

Milutin Sredojevic, speaking at the post-match press conference however, stated that Waris tripped himself and a penalty should never have been given against his side.

“I absolutely disagree with the penalty decision because from my angle and the referee’s angle, it was not a penalty. The players were going away from the goal and I think the Ghanaian player merely tripped himself.”

“I personally believe it shouldn’t have been a penalty even though I respect the decision of the referee. But the whole Africa, they know football and will all have the chance to watch it again and let everybody judge. I know even you Ghanaians know the truth,” he added.

Sredojevic expressed his delight at the performance of his players who looked comfortable against the Black Stars despite being ranked 16 places below their more illustrious opponents on the African continent.

“We played very well and I’m proud of my players, I give the players all the praise. It’s the first match and we are not getting carried away,” Sredojevic noted.

“It’s a boost of morale for us to work very hard. It’s a very tough group, there is Guinea and Togo and we are desperate to take our chance,” he affirmed.

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghana didn’t deserve a penalty – Ugandan coach appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

It ruled that the bill was passed by MPs in December without the requisite quorum and was therefore illegal.

Homosexual acts were already illegal, but the new law allowed for life imprisonment for “aggravated homosexuality” and banned the “promotion of homosexuality”.

Several donors have cut aid to Uganda since the law was adopted.

Uganda is a deeply conservative society where many people oppose gay rights and the sentence for homosexual acts has always been life imprisonment.

Earlier drafts of the anti-homosexuality act made it a crime not to report gay people – which would have made it impossible to live as openly gay – but this clause was removed.

However the legislation that was passed in parliament was “null and void”, the presiding judge at the Constitutional Court said, as not enough lawmakers had been present to vote on the bill.

The law, which was signed by President Yoweri Museveni in February, toughened up existing laws.

Lesbians were covered for the first time and those found living in a same-sex marriage could have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

“Justice prevailed, we won,” the AFP news agency quotes lawyer Nicholas Opiyo, who led the challenge, as saying.

Kosiya Kasibayo, a lawyer for the state, said a decision had not been made on whether to appeal the ruling in the Supreme Court, the Associate Press news agency reports.

Uganda’s anti-homosexuality act:

• Life imprisonment for gay sex, including oral sex
• Life imprisonment for “aggravated homosexuality”, including sex with a minor or while HIV-positive
• Life imprisonment for living in a same-sex marriage
• Seven years for “attempting to commit homosexuality”
• Between five and seven years in jail or a $40,700 (£24,500) fine or both for the promotion of homosexuality
• Businesses or non-governmental organisations found guilty of the promotion of homosexuality would have their certificates of registration cancelled and directors could face seven years in jail

Source: BBC

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