Ever since the event of February 24, 1966 when Nkrumah was overthrown, many Nkrumaists have been vowing to eradicate the UP Tradition from the surface of the earth.
Attacks on the Tradition comes from without but the Tradition always weathered the storms. Even attacks by our radical capitalist reformist, Jerry Rawlings, by way of destroying businesses owned by perceived UP Traditionalists, so as to destroy the financial base of that political family, could not weaken it.
With the formation of the NPP, the party was based on sound leadership with elders who speak unconditionally, solely for the good of the party,keeping the NPPon the path of its original ideology of the principles of separation of powers, independence of mind and system of checks and balances, which had everyone participating fully with freedom of expression, guaranteed.
Unfortunately, now it looks obvious in NPP today, that attention is shifting to the glorification of personalities and this is breaking up the party. Parliamentary candidates and those loyal to the Establishment are imposed on the party. This has begun a paradigm shift from the liberal democratic qualities of the party to the authoritarian socialism of far-left parties.
Today, the NPP, is said to belong to all,but the all, here, belong to a few.
As things are, the NPP at the moment is losing touch with its support base as seen during the recent elections. The party laws are no longer working.
They could be easily flouted to please the Establishment.For example, in August 2009, a National Delegates Conference was undertaken and dubbed “Reflect, Rebuild, Recapture 2012.” It was to among others, consider a proposal for the expansion ofthe Electoral College. Here, the party violated Article 19 (c), which mandates that at least two-thirds (2/3) of the delegates must cast their votes in favour of the amendment. Instead of secret balloting, voice voting was conducted.
And again, Article 11 spells out procedures to remove an elected officer from office. At least forty per cent of the delegates that elected him into office must first petition against him. After that, a delegates’ conference would be conducted and only when at least two-thirds of the delegates vote in favour of his removal, would he be removed from office.
In 2015, Paul Afoko, Sammy Crabbe and Kwabena Agyapong, then National Chairman, National 2nd Vice Chairman and General Secretary, respectively, were suspended from office, not by a National Delegates Conference but by the party’s National Council, which was made up of less than eighty members. This violated the Party’s Constitution.
Then in this month of June 2025, when all sound-minded members of the party are calling for an expansion of the Electoral College, to include at least past officers, former MPs and former government appointees, the National Council came out to propose a “Top-Bottom Approach,” in electing candidates and officers of the party. In December 2025, will come with polling station executive elections, then in January 2026, there will be presidential primary. No news on the expansion of the Electoral College.
One of the reasons given, is to reduce the tension where all aspirants will invade constituencies and push for their choice to be elected into office.
But wait, the December 2025 polling station elections would surely invite aspirants to the constituencies to do what they are known to do. Will the presidential aspirants be locked up in the Head Office from the time nominations are opened to the moment the last ballot is cast?
With 40,975 polling stations across the country, no aspirant will dare joke with 204,875 executives who could form almost ninety-eight percent of the Electoral College.
Article 13 (1) of the NPP Constitution states that, “the election of the Party’s Presidential Candidate shall be held not later than twenty-four (24) months from the date of the national election. The date and venue for the election shall be decided by the National Council, provided, however, that the National Council may, on appropriate occasion, vary the date.” This applies when the party is in opposition And in Article 13 (4) states that “when the Party is in government, the election of a Presidential Candidate shall be held not later than 11 months before the national general election.” Some party members who are in support of this new proposal are saying per Article 13 (1), the National Council have the right to vary the date of the Presidential Primaries.
There is an issue here, though. The Constitution did not set a fix date for presidential primaries, so the National Council could vary the dates close to, not-later-than twenty-four months before the national election. This new proposal suggesting that the presidential primary is to be conducted thirty-five months to national elections, demands the enacting of Art. 19 (c) for an amendment to Art. 13 (1).
Reasons given in support of this Top-Bottom Approach does not make any sense. For example, a regional communication director of the party, Peter Ayinbisa is saying an early election will give the party enough time to mend cracks before the General Elections.
He should be aware that the current system in the party breeds the acrimony and internal wranglings, because no elder of the party or the National Council has been able to punish aspirants and their supporters who wage verbal wars on one another. Discipline has faded out in NPP and the cracks will remain or even expand more with this new proposal. Supporters of the flag bearer will treat supporters of the unsuccessful aspirants as if they do not belong to the party.
Fuseini Abdul-Fatawu, of Sisala East Constituency, gave about twelve reasons why this Top-Bottom Approach is the panacea to all the problems the NPP is facing. None of them could place a finger on how this proposal can rebuild the party. Take these two, for example. 1). He claimed there would be unity through centralized discipline: The indiscipline in the party today cannot be stopped by any internal election.
The party must revert to the days when members upheld its principles and did not worship any one. 2). He claimed that the new proposal would prevent grassroot hijacking: This irrelevant statement was also made by Paul Adom Otchere. The question is, will the aspirants not invade polling stations before the December 2025 primary? And will the aspirants not descend on the party officers and shower gifts in cash and kind and make promises?Nothing will change because “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” to wit, “the more the change, the more things remain the same”
Paul Adom Otchere, sometimes thinks he talks to toddlers in a creche as he rejoiced over his confused state of mind with unattainable reasons why the Top-Bottom Approach is the best for NPP.
He put up portraits of Bawumia, Kennedy Agyapong, Kwabena Agyapong, Adutwum and Bryan Acheampong, with figures of GH¢35 million, GH¢35 million GH¢15 million, GH¢30 million and GH¢36 million written respectively under them.
Then hetells Ghanaians that will be the minimum amount of money each will spend if the status quo is maintained. However, he could not tell us how he came up with these figures, neither did he tell us how much less would be spent by the aspirants if the new proposal is implemented.
He also claimed that when the NPP elects an aspirant early, the flag bearer would be ahead of the NDC’s candidate through to Election Day. He added that foreign missions, state officers and the society in general will identify the NPP flag bearer as the anointed one to win the election, and would support him. This is a dumb statement. Who will bite into this? Paul Adom Otchere must learn to be matured in his presentations. His clowning is no longer funny.
The party underwent an enquiry into why it fared so badly in the 2024 General Elections. The report is kept under someone’s bed and to date the party members do not know exactly why it performed that abysmally in the elections. However, one thing is certain, apart from the pride and arrogance which were very endemic among party executives and government appointees, the imposition of PCs and party officers on the party, was one major reason.
So, what is this Top-Bottom Approach going to achieve, if not more impositions. The flag bearer will impose only his cronies into all party positions, including parliamentary candidates as well. He will just demand that his choices be elected into office or else he will not attend to the needs of the constituency members when he is voted into power. Is that what the NPP wants? A situation that one’s only qualification for official position will depend on how loyal he or she is to the flag bearer.
Talking toa party guru, he suggested that all the aspirants should rather be lined up and lots cast, with the winner declared flag bearer. He made a lot of sense.
With what is going on, many more NPP supporters will find the party highly unattractive and will keep their distance from the polls on Election Day. Then those “anti-UP” members within the NPP will finally achieve the desire of the Nkrumaist by eradicating the only UP Tradition party in Ghana.
By Hon. Daniel Dugan
