The former Afigya Kwabre South New Patriotic Party (NPP) Constituency Chairman, Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, alias COKA, has proposed that the National Executive Council of the party consider holding a Special Congress early enough to elect its presidential candidate for the 2024 Elections.
He said even though the party’s constitution provides that the presidential primary was held a year prior to the elections, his proposal was worth considering, because it would help address disunity and heal the wounds from factionalism before and after the presidential primary and maintain discipline.
COKA said the move should also be seen as a strategy to ‘Break the 8’, since it would afford the party ample time to campaign and market the chosen flagbearer devoid of rancour and acrimony.
He made the proposal when he spoke on Nhyira FM and Fox Radio in Kumasi last Friday, as part of personal efforts to intensify the “Break the 8” campaign towards victory in 2024.
According to him, there was no strategy to ‘Break the 8’, hence the need for the party hierarchy to evolve guidelines for aspirants, to avoid disunity and disenchantment among their supporters.
COKA, whose party supporters prefer to call variously as the People’s Chairman and Grassroots Chairman, said the focus now was not who was the leader of the party.
“It is about Ghana,” hence the need for members and communication teams of the party to eschew apathy and go the extra mile to effectively tout the achievements of the Akufo-Addo government.”
He said Ghanaians would not forgive the NPP if it failed to ‘break the 8.’ The communication teams, he said, were now aware of the loopholes and were committed to plugging them to ‘break the 8.’
According to him, Nana Akufo-Addo was a listening President, and that there was hope at the end of the four-year mandate.
He said he anticipated a miracle, and called on Ghanaians to rally behind the President to enable him take us through and out of the economic doldrums.
“A miracle is possible, just as the Israelites experienced and passed through the Red Sea to avoid an attack by advancing soldiers,” the former Scriptures Union President assured.
The COKA Family Head said every Ghanaian and NPP member had a role towards salvaging the economy and noted that the fuss about the US currency, the Dollar, was a panic creation, and said normalising the cedi needed a national effort and should not be seen as a singular task for a particular political party.
He suggested that Ghanaians should deal with the banks for all foreign exchange transactions to ease the pressure on the cedi.
COKA said he was not daunted by his failed bid to lead the Ashanti NPP at the May 28, 2022 poll, saying it was an act of God and that his main concern was to ensure that the NPP breaks the 8, therefore, it was not a matter of who was the leader, which explained why all hands should be on deck to protect the electoral fortunes of the party, particularly in the Ashanti Region.
The dyed-in-the-wool member of the NPP said breaking the 8 was a novelty and should be seen as the collective responsibility of all members, and not the preserve of a few individuals, hence the need to work harder than before and ensure that the party’s resolve to break the eight is achieved with all the seriousness it deserves.
Chairman Odeneho Kwaku Appiah (COKA) further recommended that the leadership of the party consider jealously guarding the history of Danquah-Busia-Dombo against alterations to protect the party’s image emphasising that the party’s history must be well rewritten.
He said they (leadership) should see the book as their legacy to be cherished by future generations.
