NPP Goes To Congress

Article by Kwesi Biney

Tomorrow is the day one of the nation's celebrated political parties of old, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), is congregating in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, to elect officers to manage its affairs for the next five years.

It must be stated that it is not only about electing officers to manage the party, but more importantly to ensure that the NPP comes back to power come 2012.

This time around, so far Mr. Aseidu Nketia has not come out to say that the NPP is going to Kumasi to select one chief thief out of a certain number of thieves. So far the NPP has, since its electoral process began last year, conducted almost 27,000 elections throughout the 230 constituencies.

The first elections took place in the 21,000 polling stations throughout the country to choose the executives to run the polling stations.

Within the constituencies, Electoral Area Coordinators were also selected as a result of the amendments the party introduced into its constitution last year in Accra.

From there, constituency elections were held throughout the 230 constituencies in Ghana to elect officers to run the party, after which regional elections were also held to elect Regional Officers.

It must be admitted that in the 27000 elections that have been organized at various levels of the party, there were a few places where disagreements occurred, some of which led to court actions.

These are normal occurrences in democratic practices all over the world, but by and large the totality of the elections was very peaceful and successful.

The gathering of the over 4000 delegates at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium tomorrow to elect national officers is just to climax an exercise that began last year.

This is not the first time the NPP is going to do what it has been billed to do tomorrow, if nothing at all, we are the trail blazers in democratic practices and governance.

It is normal and natural that in any contest people will prefer particular individuals or group of individuals.

The choice of preferred candidates is based on so many factors, these include the personal knowledge and relationship people have with a contestant or contestants, what good a contestant might have done to a particular individual, the competence of the contestant, the prejudices people have against certain individuals, loyalty or sometimes plain sycophancy. It goes on and on and on.

And these are legitimate reasons for individuals to make decisions in any contest. It is important that such reasons and decisions by individuals be respected by all, even if we disagree with their choices.

It must be noted that all contestants who will assemble in Kumasi tomorrow to solicit for votes from the delegates are all solid members of the New Patriotic Party.

There is no one out of the lot who can be described as belonging to the National Democratic Congress or better still the New Divine Church (NDC), all of which are led by Rev. Dr. Dr. Pastor Jerry Rawlings, who is alive and kicking but his boom junction residence is now of blessed memory. 

I do not know when the memorial service for the once vibrant, outspoken and controversial residence will be held.

Indeed, going back to history and considering the role that Boom Junction Residence has played in the politics of this country since 1982, it is difficult to imagine which residence can wear the shoes of Boom Junction at this point in the history of our country.

There is no evidence that any of the contestants come from the AKOKO stable, even though in the eight years of NPP rule President Kufuor was magnanimous enough to include a few CPPist into his government, they still remain CPPist.

The contestants are all NPPist, if you will, and that they have the right to vie for any position within the party when the opportunities offer themselves.  

It is therefore very important that in our quests as delegates to get our preferred candidates elected to the offices for which they are vying, we do not destroy the image and reputation of the other contestants.

If there are special qualities of our preferred candidates which are superior to those of our candidates' opponents, let us come out with those qualities which will inure to the benefit of the party in the long term rather than the character assassinations which sometimes become part of our campaigns.

You see, if you spread falsehood about a candidate, and on the basis of that that candidate loses an election, how can you expect that losing candidate to offer his services in whatever form for the cause of the party and its eventual victory?

During the regional elections in the Western Region, a particular candidate was tagged falsely of having pocketed a whooping GH¢220, 000 or ¢2,200,000,000 of party money during the 2008 general elections.

This falsehood gained so much prevalence and led to the defeat of that candidate. He still has not recovered from the lies told about him.

This is the kind of misinformation aimed at gaining electoral advantage, but has the potential to destroy a party's unity and cohesion. These are things we need to avoid tomorrow in Kumasi.

Delegates and party members should remember that majority of Ghanaians have never ever regretted their electoral decisions than what they, in their own rights at the time of voting in 2008 did, have today.

There is no gainsaying that most Ghanaians' only hope for a better standard of living, more than ever before, is under the NPP. It is in this vein that the so-called Nana Akufo Addo –Alan Kyerematen divide worries ordinary Ghanaians who are not even technically identified with the NPP.

They believe that if the NPP becomes weakened because of its own internal disagreements and deep-seated personal hatred rather than principled disagreements in opinions and modus operandi of running the party, it is not only the NPP which stands to lose, but the millions of Ghanaians whose lives and future are on the verge of being destroyed by the incompetence of the NDC government, a fact accepted by its Founder and spiritual leader, Rev. Dr. Dr. Pastor Jerry John Rawlings.

You will agree that as members of the party there is no acrimony between the two towering aspirants of this great party, what comes out as division between Alan and Nana Addo are perceptions out there which have been created by party people.

Some party members, in their bid to catch the eye of these leaders, behave like they are more Catholic than the Pope.

Any act of a party member in the name of loyalty towards an individual which tends to destroy rather than build, is nothing but sycophancy.  And there are a lot of them in the Ghanaian society, and therefore in the NPP. This is very destructive.

As you, party loyalists, congregate in Kumasi; there is no honour one can offer our Founding Fathers (not Founding Father) of old and our recent leaders than to come out of the Congress much united than ever before.

Is it not worrying that since the NPP lost power to the NDC a few committed and dedicated leaders have passed on into the world beyond?

Death will come when it has to come. Some of them have lived their lives in such a worthy manner that requires emulation. The latest to desert us naturally was Mr. J.B.da Rocha, a stalwart of the party.

There is nothing more honourable and befitting of these departed ones than to have an incident free congress in their memory.

It will not only unite the party, but more importantly increase the confidence of a distraught nation, build a solid hope and trust in the people to contain the pains and anguish of these difficult times in the hope that the NPP will come and salvage them from the Pharaohs of Egypt into the promised land of Canaan.

It is within the context of the above that the VOICE OF THE WEST is wishing all of you a happy Congress, not the Tuabodom one ooooooo, even though the Tuabodom Congress was also held in Kumasi.