NPP is losing Brong Ahafo to NDC

The special committee set up by the Brong Ahafo Patriotic Caucus (BAPAC) to investigate the poor performance of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2004 general elections has described the re-appointment of the Brong Ahafo (BA) Regional Minister, Nana Kwadjo Seinti, as a real tragedy.

The Five-Member special committee, chaired by the deputy Minister for the Interior and Member of Parliament (MP) for Berekum, Capt. (RTD) Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey, noted that Nana Seinti's re-appointment would seriously affect the fortunes of the party in the 2008 general elections if he was allowed to stay on.

According to the report, "It is a real tragedy that Nana Kwadwo Seinti has been again appointed as the Regional Minister. It will seriously affect the fortunes of NPP."

The BAPAC special committee report cautioned that unless certain problems were addressed urgently by the party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) would capture BA region from the NPP in 2008 and from there, by necessary implication, win the 2008 general elections.

The report questioned, " How do we combat them? We have the entire machinery of state power at our beck and call - are we going sit down, talking big English and allow the NDC to overturn Brong Ahafo Region, why should we continue to have political appointees who cannot be trusted as DCEs, why can't we transfer or frustrate government officials who show open bias to our party?"

Other problems that the committee has observed, which needed urgent solutions, included the removal of the regional Minister, his deputy and the entire regional executive of the party for non-performance.

"Regrettably, unless these problems are addressed very urgently, NDC will capture Brong Ahafo Region from NPP in 2008 and from there, by necessary implication, carry Ghana. It is sad, and very tragic indeed, that in the interest of the party, the Regional Minister, his Deputy, the chairman and every member of the Executive- they each recommended that every body at the top should be changed," the committee cautioned.

The report continued that the greatest misfortune to NPP in Brong Ahafo region was when President Kufuor replaced Ernest Akuboah Debrah, now Food and Agricultural Minister, with Nana Seinti as the regional Minister.

The committee explained that during their investigations, they interacted with Nana Seinti for several hours, and he created the impression that he was a perfect administrator who had sorted out things on the ground.

However the report revealed that on the contrary, every member of the BA regional executives who appeared before the committee, including his own deputy Minister, Mr. Yaw Adjei Duffuor, debunked his claims.

The report said, " He was described variously as a 'dictator', 'arrogant', ' always angry', 'never smiles to anybody', 'never visited the NPP office, never went anywhere with the NPP' and 'practiced one man show."

The report also observed that if the regional Minister was ineffective, the regional chairman of the party Mr. Kwadjo Yeboah Fordjour was no better.

Citing examples of its funding, the report disclosed that Mr. Fordjour was good on the platform, but a bad manager who would not organize or attend meetings, but would reverse every decision taken in his absence.

Again it noted that the regional chairman and his secretary were divided on every issue and every conceivable matter, which polarized the party in the region between the two men.

Based on these issues, the regional executive could not develop any strategic plan for the 2004 general elections, the report noted.

According to the committee, the situation was so bad that some members of the regional executive complained to it (the committee) that on the day of the election, 7th December 2004, Mr. Fordjour was so relaxed that he was actually seen sitting under a tree in New Town playing draught!

The report therefore summed up the causes of the poor performance of the NPP in the region as follows: " If NPP performed very badly (in the Brong Ahafo region) on 7th December, if we could not deliver as was expected of us, the reason was because the party, from the top to bottom, was in total disarray, torn between factions with terrible wounds from primaries and bad leadership".

Meanwhile, the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Nana Seinti, when reached on the phone, admitted his interaction with the committee members, but denied knowledge of the content of the report. He explained that BAPAC is not a government appointed agency or institution to rationalize his appointment or otherwise.

Nana Seinti accused the committee of being mischievous and wanting to bring down his administration unjustifiably, saying that if the President thought he was a bad material, he would not have re-appointed him as the regional Minister.

In their report, the committee stated that they were given one month to work and report back. However due to unforeseen circumstances, it took them almost five months to complete the job.

Explaining the processes of their investigations, the committee stated also that they met the regional Minister, his deputy and then every member of the regional executive.