Former Second Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party has described his relationship with the first gentleman of the land, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as one with no trace of ‘bad blood’ or tension of any sought; on the contrary, he credits him with kick-starting his political career by introducing him to politics.
Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu revealed that Sammy Crabbe had ganged up with Former General Secretary Kwabena Agyapong and National Chairman of the NPP to frustrate the candidature of President Akufo-Addo in 2015. According to him, the three suspended National Executives were against the ambitions of then flagbearer of the NPP and had their own agenda to elect their own presidential candidate for the elections.
Speaking on the ’21 Minutes with KKB show’, Mr. Crabbe denied having any malicious intent towards President Akufo-Addo.
“I don’t have a problem with Akufo-Addo, my wife’s cousin is Akufo-Addo’s wife why should i? As a matter of fact, my coming into politics was by Akufo-Addo, Agyiri Blankson etc. so I’ve known them. In one breath they say I’m fighting Kufour then they say I’m fighting Akufo-Addo and I’m saying that’s not what it is…. “If you see me talking to Kufour and tomorrow I argue with Kufour it doesn’t mean that I hate the man, it’s just at that particular moment there’s an issue on the table”, he said.
He believes that progress for the party however will emerge when members of the same party are able to freely disagree on issues if need be and express dissenting views without any of the parties feeling ‘sabotaged’ or offended.
“I think that we should be man enough, we should be mature enough to be able to separate these things, my personal, my business, my politics, I should be able to have a business dialogue with you even though I have some issues with you personally, I should be able to have a political dialogue with you even though personally I don’t agree with you or we have a business disagreement, that’s what brings progress so I won’t always speak and I hope that people will be man enough and mature enough to accommodate dissenting views” he maintained.
Sammy Crabbe was suspended indefinitely alongside General Secretary, Kwabena Agyapong in 2015 by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the New Patriotic Party.
Both executives were suspended following a petition submitted to NEC in which some members of the party accused them of undermining the party’s authority by publicly rebelling against the party’s decision to indefinitely suspend National Chairman, Paul Afoko.
Sammy described the decision as illegal and minced no words in chiding the Freddie Blay-led executive which took over from Afoko. Consequently, he was suspended.
