NPP Delays the Appointment of Deputies.
The National Executive Committee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at a meeting held today, 30 th March 2010, at the party's headquarters have agreed to delay the appointment of deputies for the party's national executives until after a flagbearer is chosen.
Present at today's meeting was the former President John Agyekum Kufuor, the party's 2008 flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, the newly elected National Executives and other members of the National Executive Committee.
Thus, apart from the 10 executives who won elective office at the Baba Yara Stadium in February, there are still 8 important deputy positions to fill. These are two deputy General Secretaries, two deputy National Organisers, two deputy Women's Organisers and two deputy Youth Organisers.
Intense lobbying for these positions were known to have begun even before the Sunday thanksgiving service in Kumasi, the morning after the National Conference which elected the new national officers of the New Patriotic Party.
The fundamental reason for the appointment of the deputy positions is to fill certain gaps which the election might not have taken care of be it in the areas of regional/ethnic/religious or gender balance and expertise.
The delay in the appointments is to afford the party time to constitute the membership of national office holders of the party which would be based on experience, competence and the requisite balance required for an effective national campaign and not merely by whom an office holder believes he/she can work with.
Appointment of deputies should not be determined by who the substantive office holder merely thinks he can work with; it should be about who can help the party mount a winning campaign. It is the responsibility of the substantive heads to build, encourage and maintain a working environment of teamwork and camaraderie, devoid of their personal idiosyncrasies, whims and predilections.
In choosing who the deputies must be, the last thing the party should consider is how that could help resolve 'divisions' in the party. That would be a useless consideration which may even come back to hurt the party. Positions of importance must be held by people who want to work with all their heart, mind and strength.
The National Council of the party will also have a meeting tomorrow, 31 st of March 2010, to fix a permanent date for the election of a flagbearer for the party after considering modalities for the flagbearership election submitted by the steering committee chaired by Lawyer Owusu Afriyie, General Secretary of the Party.
According to Statesman sources close to the party, the steering committee, comprising of national officers, met last week, tasking the General Secretary to lead a working group to come up with the modalities of holding congress in June.
It is, however, expected that National Council will settle on the month of July for the election of the flagbearer as this would allow the party time to reconcile, unite and focus on 2012 and also enable the flagbearer to lead the party to raise money to sponsor candidates for the District Assembly elections scheduled for August 2010.
Although the 1992 Constitution of the Republic maintains the fiction that the local elections are not partisan, political parties, in practice, sponsor candidates for the important grassroots positions of assemblymen.
The filing of nominations for the flagbearership position is thus expected to be open in April with proposed filing fee of GHc 50,000 not likely to be favoured by the National Council.