NPP Woman Warns Party Top Brass

The NPP Women's Organizer for the Wenchi Constituency, Madam Rose Adade, has cautioned the New Patriotic Party (NPP) over its waning popularity in the country.

Madam Rose was speaking in an interview with The Chronicle at the NPP Regional Office in Sunyani last Friday on the overview of the party's performance recently.

According to her, "the love and truth that existed in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that won it power in the 2000 general elections and the subsequent maintenance of power in 2004 has faded out and if care is not taken, our party would go back and queue in the political line and that would take it more years to see the light of power."

The former women's organizer, who is warming up to contest for her previous position in the constituency, noted that because of the absence of truth and love on the part of the leadership of the party, most of the party supporters were no longer interested in championing the cause of the party, hence its poor performance in the recent by-elections. She said the margin by which the party's results in the recent by-elections had reduced, clearly demonstrated that the former giant party was dying.

To ensure that the NPP remained in power, Madam Rose urged the Executive to be transparent in all its dealings, saying that this would bring back the zeal, truth and love that used to be in the party when they were in opposition. She noted also that the National Executive of the NPP's reaction to complaints brought before them by party members, was another factor that killed the spirit of its followers. According to her, the leadership sometimes rubbished some complaints without going into them and this, at the end of the day, adversely affected the structures of the party, particularly at the grassroots level.

Citing an instance, she told the Chronicle that the leadership showed ignorance about a case in Techiman South, where a prominent member of the NPP, Dr. Opoku Agyemang, and the executive had a problem, which the national leadership failed to resolve.

The outcome, according to her, was that the party had to lose to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the constituency. "If today, a by-election should be conducted in Techiman South, what would be the position of the NPP, since the case is still pending without any resolution?" She asked. According to her, Dr. Agyemang, who was an influential member of the NPP in Techiman, was described by the party members in Techiman as a stranger who could not impose any decision on them. Madam Adade therefore appealed to the leadership to go into all cases brought before them, ascertain the truth and find possible solutions to them. She debunked the claim of the party that they always indicated, "this seat belongs to the NDC, so if they win, it is theirs."

"If the seat is theirs, why do you waste our resources to contest for it, without leaving the NDC to take the seat unopposed?" Madam Adade reminded the NPP and President Kufuor to cast their minds back to when they were in opposition and remember how they suffered before coming to power. She warned that if they took things for granted, things would be rough for them, come the 2008 general elections. According to Madam Adade, despite the fact that a lot of projects were going on all over the country, the people were not happy, following some decisions the government of the NPP was taking. One of such decisions, she said, was the ejection of street hawkers. She advised President Kufuor also to take a critical look into the backgrounds of his appointees before appointing them into positions.

Madam Adade stated that most of the government appointees - ministers, district chief executives and ambassadors - were not worth appointing, because they were creating a mess for the party.