No political party worldwide is the property of an individual or selected group of persons

There is no political party in the world of which any one person or small group of persons can claim ownership. Obviously, political parties are formed by a few groups of people with a common ideological belief. It develops into a political organisation when people have bought into the ideologies so propounded and what they aim to achieve that they join the organisation.

It is then registered by its elected, *not* selected officers, such as the Chairman, and Secretary. Others are the Treasurer, Organiser, etc. Those who are elected to these positions are never the owners of the Party, neither do they hold their elected positions for life, nor can they unilaterally dictate their opinions and ideas on the Party, which then has a whopping number of particularly paid-up members, whiles others may be followers, and sympathisers.

The officers of the Party hold their offices only as trustees. Without a huge throng of membership, followers, and sympathisers, most of whom are usually non-dues-paying members and contributors, the Party will never win any elections to form a ruling government.

The views and sentiments of the teeming masses *must*, therefore, be strictly respected by the executives, else disaffection sets in, and the organisation so formed collapses.

The NPP, an offshoot of the United Party tradition can never claim exemption from this rule of thumb, and our forebearers have always adhered strongly to this doctrine and principle.

The UP tradition has a long standing history of political correctness. Our conservative ideology as a liberal democracy dates back to the days of John Mensah Sarbah, Dr. Kwegir Aggrey, etc., who initiated self-government, then, years later came the formation of the UGCC, and subsequently a seceded CPP.

Neither the Aborigines Rights Protection Society, the UGCC, nor the CPP had any one person ownership identity, instead, there has always been a leader.

Regrettably, it was the absolutist dictatorship of Nkrumah who claimed ownership of the CPP that caused disaffection in it, causing its inevitable demise. Not even its attempted revival into the PNP in 1979 could resuscitate it.

Contrary to the above, the UP tradition, that was a unity of political forces with a common ideology and purpose, namely the UGCC, the NLM, the Ghana Congress Party, the Northern Peoples Party, and the Volta Peoples Party have never attributed ownership to anyone, or group of persons. We have chosen to believe in democracy, hence the (Demo people, corrupted as Domofoɔ), and we have continued to exist and persist as such, even in times of hostilities, believing and adhering strictly to the tenets, values, and principles of democracy in electing our leaders, and executives.

Therefore, nobody who truly belongs to the UP tradition can claim to be an automatic leadership choice or would attempt to impose a leader and Party executives on the millions of NPP voters. Party executives may risk being induced into accepting bribes and other inducements to elect executives, though to live wistfully afterwards. Any attempt on the other hand to foist a leader and presidential candidate on the millions of NPP voters will be suicidal. At least, regrettable lessons *must* be learned, and are learned by the wise and forward-looking unless indeed we are *fools*

The NPP is a wide political family with equal rights and opportunities for all its members across Ghana. Though there are traditional rules and regulations as guidelines for interested members of the Party who strongly believe that they have what it takes to lead the Party and Ghana, the NPP has no established form of automatic successive leadership "royal lineage" of inheritance scheme.

Every NPP member of good standing is a "royal" leadership material, with the proviso that the person has the required leadership qualities, and will be acceptable to the millions of voters, irrespective of who begot who, and where the person comes from in Ghana. Such is the equality of family members that we all cherish to bind us together.

By creating succession Gates, based either on tribe, ethnicity, geographical extraction, or the descendants of whoever, that invariably seeks to alienate a large membership from the Party to be looked on as mere serfs in the Party.

This phenomenal creature is what is currently sizzling in the NPP pot, and about to boil very violently to our own detriment.

The ancient saying is that "one good turn deserves another, but not one bad and disappointing turn that should be given another bite on the cherry.

As it is now, many UGCC, UP, Progress Party, and PFP top men and women have become unsung, let alone being past heroes. Typically, someone like Paa Grant, the unequaled sole financier of the UGCC is not heard of, let alone being honoured anywhere, yet we hear of Kojo Tsikata, the person who has tormented the lives of so many members of our family and tradition.

Continuing with this roll call of our unsung and forgotten greats, and which is on purpose, may choke you into a lachrymal outburst of emotion, hence a need to pause here.

~Bill Boampong Darlington

TAIN Constituency.