Apostle Dr. Emmanuel Osei Kwabena Donkor said it all. Without unity the New Patriotic Party will be nothing. The words coming out of the apostle’s mouth was not from him, but they were words spoken through him by God the Holy Spirit.
The division within the UP Tradition intensified getting to the end of the John Agyekum Kufuor reign as president of the republic.
Suddenly, some party executives were able to win over a lot of the party grassrootand suddenly the name Kufuor and all perceived to be on his side were regarded as enemies of the Party.
After the 2007 Presidential Primaries, which Hon. Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen ceded victory to Nana Addo there were attacks on those perceived to be his supporters.
It was alleged that he pleaded with the then party National Chairman, Peter Mac Manu, to take control of the situation and enforce peace within the Party. This plea was ignored and perceived Alan supporters were continued to be treated badly by their own NPP brethren.
The party went into opposition in 2009 and went on to lose the 2012 General Elections, as the divisions continued to widen. Perceived Kufuor boys and girls who were parliamentary candidates were side lined and treated as if they were candidates of other parties.
There was a situation where presidential candidate, Nana Addo was made to completely ignore at least one such party parliamentary candidate and did not go to campaign in those constituencies.
The 2012 General Elections came with good evidence of electoral fraud and rigging, even though the lead judge at the 2013 Election Petition, Justice Atuguba, SCJ, looked at the issues through rose coloured glasses and came out with fallacious view on the case.
He started his presentation by saying that since there was no situation in Africa where elections results were overturned to the disadvantage of the ruling government, such a situation could therefore not happen in Ghana.
He went on to set aside Art. 49 (3) of the 1992 Constitution, which mandated the presiding officer to sign the declaration of the results in the presence of all, before communicating them to the returning officer.
Could the NPP have won the 2012 General Elections without going through the Supreme Court, if there was unity? There was at least one case, where a constituency chairman vowed that over his dead body would the PC win the seat.
He and some high-ranking party members, corrupted party agents and in connivance with the presiding officers, made votes won by the party’s PC to be added to the NDC’s candidate. And while this was done, NPP Nana Addo’s votes were also added to NDC John Mahama’s.
With disunity, came the policy that if someone in the party, who does not play ball, was to benefit from something, it should go to a non-party member.
So, it was when Paul Afoko, then National Chairman, only asked that all the NPP accounts be merged into one, to allow effective management, and he was targeted. With charges, not officially made public, Chairman Afoko was suspended.
Second vice chairman, Sammy Crabbe and General Secretary Kwabena Agyapong, would prefer towing the line of justice and decided to be on the side of the Party’s rules. They also got suspended with unsubstantiated charges.
2016 came and with it was a historic victory for the NPP and Nana Addo became the president of the republic. It was an overwhelming victory which briefly overshadowed the canker of disunity within the Party.
And the beat went on, as party members in the corridors of power could decide for the party without recourse to the traditional voice of the majority and impose parliamentary candidates on constituencies claiming that they were the president’s choices.
As a result of the clear-cut rejection from the powers that be, many NPP members voted against their own candidates at the polls. President Nana Akufo Addo easily sailed through to be re-elected, president. But in Parliament, the story was different. NPP scaled down from 169 majority to a 137-137 parity, with the opposition NDC.
Incidentally, the only Independent MP, was formerly an NPP MP, who was rejected by the powers that be and made to lose the parliamentary primary in his constituency. Hon. Kwabena Amankwa Asiamah became the rejected stone to lift up NPP into the majority in Parliament.
Even with this the powers that be never learnt their lessons and went about business as usual. They were to decide for the entire NPP family and the rule was “do as I say and not as I do!”
They came out to warn that no one should declare for any aspirant or that person would attract punishment. Everything was quiet and that silence won over the Party. Then someone from among the powers that be declared for Vice President Mahamud Bawumia as the next flag bearer.
Thinking that the ban had been lifted, some party members started declaring for aspirants of their choice. They attracted suspensions and other sanctions and there and then the division within the Party expanded.
It was so and just before Conference 2022, Chairman Wontumi violated party rules and together with fourteen other regional chairmen, openly declared for the then incumbent General Secretary, John Boadu. Yet, no one could sanction him and the others, because Wontumi was one of the powers that be.
The Conference decided on Mr Steve Ntim as National Chairman and Justin Frimpong Kodua (JFK) as General Secretary. With Ntim, a dye-in-the-wool party man and a true UPist, once a first vice chairman and acting chairman, knowing how to manage the party and tradition, everybody was in celebrating mood.
The Party is back! JFK also hit the ground running and boldly came out with the Riot Act. No one, especially party and government officials, was to declare for any aspirant. This held the NPP together and unitedin the early nineties and during Kufuor’s era.
To rubbish what JFK said, an unknown NPP MP from Effiduase-Asokore in the Ashanti region, Hon Ayew Afriye came out and strongly warned that any one who made it difficult for the vice president to get the nod, will be dealt with severely.
At the NPP’s thirtieth anniversary thanksgiving at the Kanda Mosque, the national Nasara coordinator, Alhaji Aziz Haruna Futa, dropped his guard and declared for an aspirant. He said,“The NPP has come far.
The party which was originally called the Northern People’s Party (NPP) has a blend of both Christians and Muslims leading the party in diverse ways. The only position which has never been held by a Muslim so far is the flag bearer ship position.
It is my candid view that it is time the NPP show its love by selecting a Muslim to lead the party into election 2024 with a Christian as running mate”.Obviously, it is not too clear whether, Alhaji Futa is a true NPP man.
It is obvious he does not know anything about the party, to have stated that the NPP today, was originally called the Northern People’s Party.
Some other high ranking Party members kept violating the Party rules and then some video made rounds on social media.
A voice of a lady, who was identified as Humuand alleged to be a close friend of John Boadu was heard putting out a plan which when implemented was going to trap the new General Secretary with fraudulent acts, by way of giving out party vehicles to party chairpersons.
With that he would be kicked out of the National Executive Committee, neither her nor John Boadu has come to disassociate themselves from what was on the video.
As it is, it will be obvious that plans are being put in place to repeat what happened to Afoko, Crabbe and Agyapong. The question is, would these work this time? Would the entire NPP family sit down and watch the party break apart?
Last weekend, some party members rolled out a function they had been planning quite a while ago. A health walk in Kumasi, in which Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen was going to be endorsed by Asanteman. Was the walk going to violate the Riot Act?
We were then told it was not a political walk, but something Asanteman wanted to showcase. Party head office could not stop it and so it went on and over 200,000 people took part in that walk. 200,000 people could on average be votes from three constituencies. What does this mean? Has NPP strongest hold made a statement?
One after the other some party members spoke at the giant rallyand it got to the turn of Hopeson Adorye, a very known figure in the party who supported President Akufo Addo in his elections bid.
Hopeson in addressing the crowd made a statement of fact that the NPP tradition allows for a Danquah person or a Busia person to go for flag bearer and a Dombo always went for a running mate. He went on to assure the Dombos that when Alan Kyerematen gets the nod, he would appoint a Dombo as his running mate.
Then, my friend, Musa Superior spoke angrily saying Hopeson had come out to say the Northerners and Muslims could never be flag bearer. AndHon Farouk Aliu Mahama, Yendi MP and son of H.E. Aliu Mahama also spoke in similar manner.
I have issues with Musa and Hon Mahama. In 2007, H.E. Aliu Mahama was a candidate for flag bearer of the NPP. Before the primaries, all the delegates from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions came down to Accra and went to the Veep to pay homage and swear allegiance to him, promising him all their votes. In the end what happened?
Vice President Aliu Mahama had 146 votes to come third. The votes he had could not get to half the number delegates from the three northern regions which most NPP members classify as Dombos.
So, the Dombos rejected a Dombo in 2007 but today, it is an offence to mention that the flag bearer position belong to the Danquahs and the Busias. What am I even saying? This Danquah Busia Dombo thing is going to split the party one day. The word must be dumped and NPP said to belong to the UP Tradition.
In conclusion, from first hand accounts from Kumasi, Hopeson Adorye did not say anything wrong. What was expected of him to say? Standing there and pledging support for Bawumia in a function to endorse Alan Kyerematen?
If some people want to find a way to split the NPP, they should not blame Hopeson Adorye. The party is united now and so shall it be. Chairman Steve Ntim is the most experience man in charge and JFK is the experience man in control. No hanky-panky moves to suspend them, this time. NPP is going to remain forever united and will break the eight.
Hon Daniel Dugan
