Is what happened to the PFP in 1979 going to happen to the NPP in 2024?

It is believed that many political parties have been destroyed by their supporters than by their opponents, and that is the case of the NPP.

The party is being disintegrated and as Kyeiwaa, a popular Kumawood actress would put it, the Elephant has become “funeral”.

The signs are not too good for the Elephant Fraternity. What is happening to the party is much deeper than what is being perceived. I will do a cutting-edge analysis to make my point.

The flagbearership race of the NPP now looks like a replay of what led to the split in the Popular Front Party (PFP) between Victor Owusu and William Ofori Atta in 1979.

William Ofori Atta, popularly known as Paa Willie lost the PFP flagbearership race to Victor Owusu in a presidential primary election.

As if to say that there is no permanent loyalty in politics but only permanent interest, the truculent members of the Akyem caucus in the PFP broke away and formed a new party called the United National Convention (UNC) with Paa Willie as their flagbearer. Kikikikiki, I hear Opana was their General Secretary. Please don’t ask me who Opana is. I don’t want any trouble.

So, it happened that in the 1979 presidential election, Dr. Hilla Liman of the People's National Party (PNP) had 35.32%, and Victor Owusu of the PFP had 29.86%. I was then 19 years and that was the first time I voted in a General Election in this country. I cast my vote at a polling station at the Bishop Boys School located between Kaneshie and Bubiashie in Accra.

Interestingly, Paa Willie got 17.41%, meaning if he and his group did not breakaway, Victor Owusu’s chances would have been optimised. Since no one had more than 50%, the election went into a second round, and shockingly, the UNC painfully supported Dr. Hilla Liman who won by 62.0% with Victor Owusu trailing by 38.0%. Hehehehe, I will term this as cruelty on stilts! Kindly find below detailed results of the election:

(First Round)
Hilla Liman PNP 631,559 (35.32%)
Victor Owusu PFP 533,928 (29.86%)
William Ofori Atta UNC 311,265 (17.41%)
Frank Bernasko ACP 167,775 (9.38%)
Ibrahim Mahama SDF 66,445 (3.72%)
John Bilson TFP 49,104 (2.75%)
R.P. Baffour IND 8,812 (0.49%)
Kwame Nyanteh IND 8,480 (0.47%)
Mark Diamond Addy IND 5,959 (0.33%)
Alhaji Imoro Ayarna IND 4,874 (0.27%)
(Second Round)
Hilla Liman 1,118,305 (62.0%)
Victor Owusu 686,097 (38.0%)
Chai, do you get the filla? So, you see, this seems to be the underlying cause of all the troubles in the NPP, leading to the struggle between the Asante and the Akyem groups with the ultimate aim to control the party, resulting in the political gangsterism we are witnessing today.

Some Asantes in the past have vowed to pay the Akyem Mafia back for what they did to them in 1979, and the alleged lack of level playing field and intimidations in the recently held Super Delegate Conference of the NPP which caused the withdrawal of Boakye Agyarko and Allan Kyeremanten, both Asantes from the race, may even deepened this purported animosity. And this could be pursued with unflinching intent.

I predicted before the 2016 elections that the NPP will continue to have problems about who leads them from Asante and Akyem unless the party splits along those ethnic lines.

The question many people are asking is that will Agyarko and Allan's withdrawal from the NPP flagbearership race lead to a split in the party?

And whether what happened to the PFP in 1979 is going to happen to the NPP in 2024?

Anthony Obeng Afrane