NPP Congress Must Address Loopholes - Kofi Asante

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been asked to use its congress scheduled for the latter part of this year to address loopholes in the party's constitution.

That will help the party to become strong enough to wrest power from the National Democratic Congress in the 2012 elections.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Chairman of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) branch of the party, Mr Kofi Asante, and issued in Kumasi.

It asked the party to shun the practice of imposing candidates on members during elections at all levels, instead of allowing party activists to select them.

The statement further stressed the need for the expansion of the party's Electoral College to allow substantial members to vote, instead of the current system where only a few members were allowed to elect national officers.

It said while the NPP was pursuing its agenda of coming back to power, it behoved its leadership to allow the NPP faithful to decide on whom they thought was capable of leading the party, instead of imposing any flag bearer on them, a practice which, the statement said, could divide the rank and file of the members.

It also appealed to well-meaning NPP supporters to do away with factionalism.

'The NPP is a party built on the principles and ideologies of the Danquah-Busia tradition and as such members should adhere to those tenets, instead of hero-worshipping members who would like to use the party for their own selfish agenda,' it added.

The statement expressed the hope that the party was capable of coming back to power in 2012 and urged members to bury their differences, learn from their past mistakes and mobilise resources to strengthen the party to ensure victory.