I don`t want to be President again -Jake
AS THE contest of the National Executive positions of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) gets keener, a stalwart of the party and a former Minister of Tourism in the Kufuor administration, Mr. Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, has clearly stated that he no longer harbours the ambition of becoming President of Ghana.
Answering questions from journalists in Bolgatanga, after addressing delegates in his bid to solicit for their votes, ahead of the February 6th national executive election, Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey, who is one of the candidates contesting for the national chairmanship position said “I don't want to be President again. I have buried my Presidential ambition”.
He stated that it was due to people pursuing their personal agenda in the various constituencies that caused the down fall of he NPP. He argued that defeated parliamentary candidates did not support those who won, thus creating internal divisions among supporters and sympathizers.
The former flag bearer aspirant admitted that it was as a result of all these personal interests espoused by party people, and the fact that they allowed complacency to set in before the 2008 election, that led the NPP into opposition.
Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey said if the party wants to come back to power, then its members, supporters and sympathizers must bury their individual interests, and focus on the bigger ideologies, principles and good policies of the party.
According to the former campaign manager and strategist of the NPP for 2004 and 2008 general elections, it was due to these factors that made him to bury his presidential ambition and to go for the national chairmanship position of party, in order to unite members and galvanize all sympathizers and floating voters to rally behind the next presidential candidate to lead the party for victory in the 2012 general elections.
The former Minister of Tourism said under the NPP administration the economic conditions of Ghanaians were far better than under the NDC. Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey took the Mills administration to task for what he described as condoning corruption, and dismissing the incorruptibility of President Mills by saying; he should have reported those who gave him the 'brown envelopes' to be arrested.
He said Ghanaians are pessimistic about the future because the current trends show that the NDC cannot handle the country. He therefore urged all NPP party faithful to learn from what happened at the past election and make sure that mistakes of the past are not repeated again.
Jake said he is endowed with vast experience that could turn the fortunes of the party around to enable it recapture power from the NDC in the 2012 election. He is, therefore, asking delegates to consider his track record in the party and give him the nod to restore power to the NPP.
He said as a founding member of the NPP, his 30 years experience in marketing and communication, and having designed the flag and symbol of the Party, and also worked as Chief Executive Officer of large companies, he has all that it takes to handle the affairs of the party as the national chairman. He has also been the Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the Party for three terms.
Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey promised the delegates that if they elected him as their national chairman, he would work tirelessly to unify the party from the grassroots to the National level. He pledged to train the party people, resource and motivate them to deliver victory to NPP in 2012.
He reminded both local and national executives of the NPP that unhealthy individual interests within the party could let the party stay in opposition longer, but when they put the interest of the party above all others, the party would surely recapture power in 2012 and continue with its good policies that it could not implement.