A former Attorney General under the Kufuor administration, Ayikoi Otoo, has rebuked the chairman of the constitutional committee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for recommending the reinstatement of Perry Okudzeto and Opare Hammond. According to him, the committee erred by giving an opinion on a matter that had not being referred to it.
“This is a non-solicited opinion” he said, adding that “if the steering committee has not asked for any opinion, if the national council has not asked for any opinion, then whose interest is this man serving by writing this so called legal opinion?”
Lawyer Ayikoi Otoo in an interview on Accra based Neat FM noted that such unsolicited views on party issues will further deepen the cracks within the party.
The chairman of the NPP’s constitutional committee, Professor Mike Ocquaye on Wednesday issued a statement ordering the leadership of the party to reinstate two officials who had been relieved of their duties.
But the national executives in a statement urged party members and the general public to disregard the directive because the issue was not referred to committee for investigations.
Ayikoi Otto, who is the immediate past chairman of the NPP’s constitutional committee, was certain that his successor’s action is indicative that he is working for a faction in the party.
“Clearly, somebody is trying to serve the interest of a particular faction by trying to direct others towards the way things ought to be done even when there are no issues to be considered,” he alleged.
According to him, Prof Ocquaye had no business giving directives on a matter which had not been brought before his committee.
He stated that the constitutional committee should have been asked by the party leadership to “proffer an advice on a particular matter to enable the committee to act properly. If there is a conflict that is trying to be resolved, you will wait for the issues to arise before you try to explain.”
The former head of the constitutional committee also chastised his successor for doing the bidding of his masters.
Ayikoi Otoo recalled that prior the party’s Super Delegates’ Congress two weeks ago, a media publication about the impending congress was attributed to him but without seeking any clarification, “Professor Mike Ocquaye decided to issue a long statement which according to him, he was doing because he is the chairman of the constitutional and legal committee.”
“He wrote all sorts of things, circulated it on whatsapp, and circulated it on Facebook without even seeking to talk to me. He decided to write a long opinion for his friends to vilify me and say all sorts of things against me,” he narrated.
According to him, the said response from Prof. Ocquaye gave people the opportunity to “abuse me…without him [Prof. Oquaye] having the common courtesy of calling me to find out what has happened.”
He accused Prof. Ocquaye of working to “damage” his reputation, adding that, “he should go ahead and be writing opinions. That is not what he inherited from me so if that’s what it has come to, he should continue to do that.”
The former AG counseled party members to “stop these kinds of factionalism within this party because it is not helping anybody.”