A leading of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Upper East Region Filson Awankua has accused regional executives of the party of sabotaging his efforts to support the campaign of the party and its flagbearer Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in the last election.
Reacting to comments to a post he made on Facebook, Awankua said he formed a volunteer group to advance the cause of the NPP in the region ahead of the December 7 polls after he was side-lined in the 2020 elections.
But the regional executives led by Regional Chairman Anthony Namoo, he claimed, blocked donations that were intended to aid the group’s activities.
“If you know the sabotage some of these guys placed on our efforts to assist them, you will be angry than I am. They side-lined some of us in the 2020 campaign, so in our political wisdom, we decided and formed a volunteer group in 2023 ( RRU4DMB ) to assist the 2024 campaign in a more coordinated and healthy form,” he stated.
“We did not ask for financial support from them, yet they issued a directive to government appointees against any form of support to the RRU. In fact we were blacklisted from the region to national.”
The group known as Rapid Response Unit for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia (RRU4DMB) was formed in August 2023 to canvass support for the then Vice-President’s bid for the NPP flagbearer and the presidency.
At its inauguration in Bolgatanga, many appointees of the Akufo-Addo government, Filson Awankua said, had pledged to support the group’s activities.
But the regional executives led by the Chairman pressed the said appointees against honouring their pledges to the group.
“The pledges from the Dces and the then regional minister were never honoured because the “powerful man” instructed them not to give us a dime, Joseph Akanfaba shall give a breakdown of my friends in government who defied all odds and supported just to settle part of the cost of the programme launch.”
Despite what he described as a sabotage of the group’s quest to advance the cause of the NPP, Awankua said RRU4DMB did not relent in its campaign for Dr. Bawumia and the NPP.
Filson Awankua said this while reacting to the Regional Chairman’s attribution of the party’s defeat in the region to sabotage and betrayal within it.
According to a report by A1radioonline, the Regional Chairman said, during Dr. Bawumia’s recent visit to the region as part of his ‘Thank You’ tour, that some party members sabotaged its campaign by leaking campaign strategies to their opponents and actively campaigning against the party.
Filson Awankua, however, questioned how the Chairman could select a team that ended up betraying the very interest the team was constituted to advance.
“Your team was selected by you without duress. How come they betrayed and leaked your strategy?”
