National Reform Party Focusing On Growth
The General Secretary of the National Reform Party (NRP), Mr Kyeretwie Opoku, has said the party is focusing on how it can grow and function effectively.
He said that the primary concern of his party was not to contest and win elections but work in the collective interest of all smaller parties in the country to enable them to play an active role in the governance of the country.
In so doing, he said that it was his party's observation that the current Political Parties Law 2000 (Act 574) did not augur well for the development of smaller parties in the country.
He said the Political Parties Law in its present state was such that it was impossible for some of the parties, particularly the smaller ones, to meet the requirements, thus making it impossible for them to develop or contest elections.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Accra on his party's preparation for the general election, Mr Opoku said that among other requirements, the Political Parties Law enjoined political parties to establish national and regional offices, operate in not less than two-thirds of the total number of districts in the country as well as inform the Electoral Commission (EC) on their resources and sources of funding.
“In a situation like this it would be impossible for the smaller political parties, including newly formed ones, to satisfy these electoral requirements”, he said, adding that “the electoral bureaucracies do not allow for the parties development”.
He indicated that the NRP would contest the parliamentary elections and added that its participation in the presidential polls would be decided by the party's leaders in April, this year.
Mr Opoku called for a review of the Political Parties Law, adding that given the present circumstances when ability to win elections depended on which political party had the most resources, the country was heading towards a two-party system which called for concern, especially as it was the two dominant parties in the country — the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) which had the means so far as the Political Parties Laws were concerned.
“A proportional representation of the smaller parties would have created the conditions for them to play their democratic role effectively,” he noted.
To the General Secretary, what the NRP was currently preoccupied with was for the electoral system to be tidied up rather than nursing the desire to win political power.
Mr Opoku indicated that members of the party across the country had expressed desire to contest the parliamentary elections which was an indication that sympathisers of the party were committed to the party's cause.
Reacting to the assertion that the NRP had been silent, he explained that though the party seemed quiet at the national level, it had been busy at the constituency level and added that the national working groups of the party met regularly to discuss party issues.
He stated that the party enjoyed a lot of support from Ghanaians in 2000 because it left the NDC and there were demands for a change in government.
Mr Opoku, however, added that the party's supporters in 2000 were no longer “with us” because they had either lost interest in politics or joined other political parties.
In his opinion it would be more meaningful if the presidential debate the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) was calling for was organised for the NPP and the NDC since either of those parties stood the chance of winning the 2008 polls.
Story by Sebastian Syme