Blues of dancing and drumming commentFelix Adjapong under siege ``Akufo-Addo would not be used as a punching bag in the internal affairs of NPP``

MR. FELIX Owusu Adjapong, a former Majority Leader in Parliament, has been subjected to various attacks and criticisms over his remarks that the defeat of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) could be attributed to too much concentration on drumming and dancing, instead of campaigning in the constituencies.

Leading members of the NPP contend that the assertion of the former Majority Leader, who is seeking the national chairmanship position of the NPP, was totally unnecessary and un-analytical.

Provoked by this remark, the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute and also an Akufo-Addo loyalist, Mr. Gabby Asare Othere-Darko, told this paper that the observation by the aspiring national chairman was an example of uninformed criticism.

According to him, individuals preaching peace and unity should not embark on such moves to woo delegates to vote for them in their bid to win their positions.

“This time, we would not allow Nana Akufo-Addo to be used as a punching bag in the internal affairs of the NPP. We would equally not allow people who are aspiring to lead the party in various capacities, to be used as punching bags. Those days that Nana Addo was used are over,” he noted.

“It saddens some of us that Mr. Adjapong, who was the head of Religious and Traditional Committee of the party, would make such uninformed criticisms. It is unnecessary and untrue that the campaign period was used for drumming and dancing.”

According to him, on the contrary, the NPP had four concerts, named 'Believe in Ghana' (BIG), which were held in the Greater Accra, Northern, Ashanti and Western regions, adding that such programmes were held in the evenings, where the presidential candidate then, Nana Akufo-Addo, mostly joined late, after completing his campaigns for the day.

To him, anybody who is objective in analysis, would realise that the 2008 general election was a photo-finish, noting that for anybody like the former majority leader to come out and make what he termed as 'ill-informed criticisms', was totally untenable.

Explaining the concept of BIG, he said it was a way of attracting the youth into the party, adding that it would be wrong and unfortunate for anybody, who is eyeing the leadership position of the party, to make comments that would disunite the party.

“You don't seem to want to unify the party by making un-analytical criticisms of the campaign of another person. That is not the way to unify the party. He who wants to unify the party, should be seen and heard talking about how to make the party ready to win the 2012 elections. You don't need to knock people down for you to get advantage. You must come out with your ideas on how to make the party efficient and effective, to win the election,” he reiterated.

Mr. Othere-Darko, who claims his socks were also seen as the bane of the NPP in the last elections, continued, “If all the party members recognise that unity is the key, then all the aspirants should focus on doing things to bring unity to the party, do things that would strengthen the weaknesses of the party, rather than focusing on uninformed criticisms.”

The Executive Director of the Danquah Institute further said any attempt by leading figures to create disunity must be condemned.

Gabby therefore prevailed upon all party members to be circumspect in their utterances.