Aspiring chairman for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paul Afoko, yesterday came out to defend the decision of the party�s Vetting Committee to clear him to contest the upcoming chairmanship race of the party.
�I�m sure you�ve all heard the news by now that there are no more impediments on my way. The Vetting Committee has done its job and based on its investigations, I have been cleared,� he told journalists whilst insisting on his innocence regarding drug-related allegations against him.
This, according to him, caused him and his family a great deal of stress.
He said, �I would want to state emphatically that the report from the British authorities as I was told by the Vetting Committee, is very unequivocal that �Paul Afoko is not known to the British police,�� a claim which has since been denied by Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah, Chairman of the Committee.
According to Martin, the Vetting Committee decided to clear Mr. Afoko because �time is of the essence and not based on any such report as suggested�, he told DAILY GUIDE.
Paul Afoko however explained, �When they say that a person is not known to the police, basically they are saying that not that he doesn�t exist, but that in terms of what the police do, in terms of their work, you�re not known to them. You are not known as a criminal; you are not known to have engaged in anything � not even in suspicion.�
Mr. Afoko said he did not have any doubt whatsoever that he would be cleared of the allegations made against him since in his own words, �I knew that I�d never been to prison and I�ve always maintained that the only prison I have been to was when I was arrested in my house by soldiers and carried straight into a prison for political reasons.�
Vision
The NPP man said, �I believe in building bridges for the future, not for the past; I will use the past as a guide but the bridges that I will build are always bridges that lead to the future because the future is what is coming.�
He therefore called for unity in the NPP since according to him, �We have to unite for purpose; and that purpose is power�, noting with emphasis, �We have no other purpose, the only reason why we come together as a political party is for power.�
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