The clouds are heavy: NPP's exit imminent

My all-time favourite novel is "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian author. The principal character is Okonkwo, an Igbo leader and wrestling champion in the village of Umuofia. The book is a post colonial novel which demonstrates the influence of British colonialism and Christian missionaries on the Igbo community.

Much as I find the content of this book exciting, what enthuses me most is its title, and this reminds me of what is going on in the camp of the ruling party in Ghana.

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.

In August this year, Mr. Allan Kwadwo Kyeremanten, a former minister of Trade and Industry of the ruling government and a presidential hopeful of the NPP was third in a special delegates election to select five candidates for a final

flagbearership contest.
But Mr. Kyeremanten resigned from the NPP ahead of the final internal presidential contest which was held on November 4, 2023, citing maltreatment and intimidation against himself and his supporters as the main reasons.

Subsequently, four prominent members of the NPP, Nana Ohene Ntow, Hopeson Adorye, Yaw Buaben Asamoa and Boniface Abubakar Saddique were sacked from the party for publicly endorsing the presidential candidature of Allan other than the party's elected flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

On December 2, 2023, during a health walk in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, dubbed "Afrafranto Walk", Allan Kyeremanten shook the political world bank of the NPP by pulling an estimated crowd of over 300,000 onto the streets which has reportedly woken up some NPP gurus to consider the possibility of convincing Allan to come back.

Not too long ago, supporters of another NPP presidential aspirant, Hon. Kennedy Agyapong called on him to run as an independent candidate in the 2024 elections and

extended warm invitation to like-minded individuals to join them in endorsing Kennedy Agyapong for the presidency.

All these are symptoms of a dying organisation and a clear indication of the party losing control over its grassroots which is its lifeblood. The seed of divisiveness has definitely been sown and its bearing fruits.

I have found out by research that a divided political party could lose up to 15% of its votes in a general election and this seems to be going to be the fate of the NPP in 2024.

Their defeat is imminent, and it is boldly written on the wall; this is non-negotiable because things have fallen apart, and the centre can no longer hold.

Anthony Obeng Afrane