Feature: Unwarranted attacks against NPP Aspirants (3)

… And the Damage to Love, Togetherness and Devotion

These unwarranted attacks, casting of aspersions and condemning good works done by the aspiring flag bearers of the New Patriotic Party by members of that party is quite worrisome.

In all these, the leadership of the party headed by Mr. Steve Ntim (National Chairman) and Mr. Justin Frimpong Koduah, seem to be oblivious of the grave situation that is spreading like a plague.

If these allegations are coming from the opposition, one might understand and find ways of addressing them. But to come from party members, is what is making people to ask, why is the leadership not taking any action?

For example, why should the NPP Majority Chief Whip, Hon. Frank Annoh Dompreh be allowed to get off the hook after he made comments that Hon Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen was the chairman of the Economic Management Committee of cabinet?

He might intend to destroy the chances of Alan, but what is most harmful with his comment is that he is admitting, as the opposition are saying, that the current economic hardships Ghanaians find themselves in today, are due to gross mismanagement by government. Hon Dompreh as an MP and a leading one too, is blaming his own party in power.

This government, on record, brought economic revival to Ghana when it first took office in January 2017. The economy was smooth sailing and gaining heights with single digit inflations recorded from 2018 to 2021, then the bubble burst and Covid-19 and Russia-Ukraine war brought our economy down to its knees.

The opposition took advantage of the situation and condemned government for mismanaging the economy. However, the IMF came out emphatically to state that our current economic situation was not due to mismanagement but due to the global economic crunch resulting from Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Hon. Annoh Dompreh as an MP is now saying he does not believe what the IMF said and that it is his party in government that has mismanaged the economy. With this in his mind, he quickly decided to put the blame on the shoulders of Hon Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen.

This attack on Alan by Hon Dompreh, had rather spilled over on his choice of aspirant, H.E. Dr. Bawumia, who, by the Constitution is the head of the Economic Management Team.

Hon Annoh Dompreh came later to explain that he meant the Economic Committee of Cabinet, assuming there is something like that, and not the Economic Management Team headed by H.E. Dr. Bawumia.

But this rather does not make any sense. He should tell us, how come an economic committee is more powerful than the EMT, which is a constitutional provision. As an MP, is he saying that a sub-committee of Parliament is more powerful than the House?

In a nutshell, Hon. Frank Annoh Dompreh is telling Ghanaians that Vice President Bawumia is not effective in managing Ghana’s economy and that someone beneath him is doing the job for him.

Attacks on H.E. Bawumia from within, like on all the other aspirants, are unwarranted.

Recently, there was some issue about authorization given from the Vice President’s office for the clearance of bags of rice from the port. Immediately, without any justification, some people mostly NPP members hanged this on H.E. Dr. Bawumia.

People within the NPP wanted to smear this gentleman with corruption and so, come Campaign 2024, how will they justify that corruption does not run within the NPP family?

In the case above, information that came out indicated that our Vice President knew nothing about this riceissue. Instead of protecting the image of the Veep, NPP members are going through lengths to brand him a very corrupt person. And with this, who loses and who gains?

One area the Veep is been attacked most is the way he was inducted into the UP Tradition and straight away, made a running mate without serving the mandatory five years in the Party.

Well, let us look at it from this angle. Then candidate Nana Addo put up a choice of running mate in Hon Hajia Alima Mahama and hell broke loose in NPP. Nothing immoral was tagged on that beautiful woman, however people just did not want a woman to run with Nana Addo. And those leading the fight were NPP women. Of the unacceptable reasons given, there was this one which said Muslims do not want women to lead them. Since when?

Before 2008, there had been six Muslim women who were heads of state in their Islamic countries. We are talking about heads of state and not vice presidents here.

We had Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, from 1988 – 1990 and from 1993 -1996; Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh, from 1991 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006; Tansu Çiller of Türkiye, from 1993 to 1996; Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, from 1996 to 2001 and 2009 to date; Africa came up, with West Africa’s Senegal having Mame Madior Boye as head of state from 2001 to 2002 and Megawati Sukarnoputri took over Indonesia from 2001 to 2004.

From 2010 to date, ten more female Muslims occupied the highest office in their countries. Africa showed up taking up half the number with Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé of Mali, 2011 to 2012; Animata Touré of Senegal 2013 to 2014; Ameenah Gurib-Fakim of Mauritius from 2015 to 2018; Samia Suluhu of Tanzania from 2021 to date and Najla Bouden of Tunisia from 2021 to date.

Clearly that argument against Hajia Alima Mahama does not hold. She could have even been the flag bearer and subsequently the president.

So, maybe out of frustration, anger and disappointment, Candidate Nana Addo went in for Dr Bawumia and where lies the fault of Bawumia for accepting such an offer from his friend? Mind you, the NPP had every right to reject Nana’s choice based on the Party’s own Constitution, Article 12 (6b) but the elders, led by National Chairman Mac Manu, collectively agreed for a waiver to be made and Dr Bawumia instantly became an NPP member.

He is not the first NDC member who joined the NPP and was given an official position.But let us remember he was not an active NDC member. Some active NDC members who crossed over to the NPP and have done marvellously well, include Hon Boniface Siddique, Hon Rashid Bawa, Frances Essiam and Alfred Boye. Alfred Boye stepped out of the NDC and joined the NPP in Ledzokuku in 1996. In year 2000 he contributed immensely in helping the NPP to win the seat for the first time.

Instead of highlighting on the importance of the introduction of digital technology, into our everyday life, spearheaded by H.E. Bawumia, some NPP members would rather seek to destroy this man.

Today, one can sit at home and pay his utility bills, apply for and renew passport, apply for and renew drivers’ licence,apply for and renew National Health Insurance Card, among others.But here some NPP members are saying this digital technology which has vastly improved our lives should be condemned. What will the NPP campaign on during Campaign 2024?

One other person who did good job during his stay in office and now an aspirant is Hon Dr Afriyie Akoto. His Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) is unprecedented and has benefited a lot of people in the food production sector. An objective and God fearing former NDC MP, Hon Alhaji Mohammed Issifu Pangadu of Ejura Sekyeredumase in the Ashanti region came out to praise this project which he benefited immensely from. Even though he was bastardised by his own party members, he called on Ghanaians to stop politicising issues of national importance and support initiatives that alleviate the plight of people.

“Both NDC and NPP are beneficiaries of subsidised fertilizers and improved seeds. It has improved the yields of farmers and I have benefited tremendously.”He said, adding that, “I am a Muslim so if I stand anywhere and give false testimony about it, Allah will punish me.”

Surprisingly, some NPP members are giving false testimonies about the PFJ just to attack the personality of Hon. Dr Afriyie Akoto. Ghana is an agrarian economy and even though Dr. Akoto has lifted food production to a higher level, some NPP members are saying his PFJ is a failure. What will the party campaign on during Campaign 2024?

One sad thing is that some of the aspirants have started attacking others, publicly. I feel it is not a step in the right direction. In 2007, one of the aspirants posted lies and negative things about Nana Akufo-Addo just to erode his support base. I can truly say that the one who did that was not Alan Kyerematen nor was it Aliu Mahama nor was it, Dan Botwe. This is how far I can go, thank you.

These negativities contributed a lot in eroding Nana’s support base in 2008 making him lose the elections by less than 40,000 votes. NPP cannot afford to allow this to happen again.

On many pro-NPP platforms, some members would use digital technology to post information on fake letterheads and print media to destroy an aspirant. Recently when Alan Kyerematen went to Dagbon, he was praised and endorsed by the Overlord. Quickly, someone put up a letter from the Office of the Ya-Na, debunking what was going round that the Ya-Na endorsed Alan.

Now, even though video evidence was put up supporting the endorsement, a non-NPP member, a socialist who would wish the UP Tradition was exterminated, put up on the frontpage of a paper he owns, that the Ya-Na said he never endorsed Alan.

This a preamble of a situation NPP will face if members continue these unwarranted attacks against the party’s aspirants, because we live in a society where the NDC and other socialists can successfully defend a lie, but the NPP and members of the UP Tradition cannot defend the truth.

Hon. Daniel Dugan