The luminary extraordinaire, Prof Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, recently spelt out his worries about the happenings in the New Patriotic Party. And what he said made a lot of sense. For example, he condemned this infamous Top-Bottom Approach, where the flag bearer would be elected first before all other party officers. The same party officers whose performance in 2024 was very appalling are coming to elect flag bearer with the intension of retaining their positions on the party. I am afraid this is the main reason for the Top-Bottom Approach.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng was right in condemning the actions of regional chairmen who have been openly declaring that by any means possible they would make sure Bawumia is re-elected flag bearer. Even though this violates the Party’s rules, the National Executives are sitting aloof.
And it is true that those who engineered the Top-Bottom Approach do not want clean elections. And again, I agree with Prof. Frimpong-Boateng that the Bottom-Top Approach must be brought back.
With these loaded facts that are adversely affecting the NPP, one would have thought Prof’s words would compel the party leaders to soberly reflect on them and do the right thing. But it was not to be. The NPP National Organiser, Nana Boakye (Nana B), angrily fired back, saying that all the Prof said were false and baseless. Unfortunately, this exposes how blind the party officers are to the current happenings in the NPP.
On his Claim One, Nana B said it was false that the Prof Ocquaye’s Election Review Committee’s report on the NPP’s defeat at the polls was not made public. He went on to say that the relevant aspects of the report fit for public dissemination were shared during the Thank-You tour. But was the full report made public?
Now, in the very first place, if 2.1 million party faithfuls rejected the party at the polls, does the party have to go and thank them or apologise to them? People felt wronged and instead of going to apologise, the party went to say “Thank You.” This is an insult. But, how did this Thank-You tour go? Is Nana B, proud of the violence, stabbings and confusions that took place at some centers? This means, the Thank-You tour was a failure. It should have been an Apology-Tour.
And if according to Nana B, the Election Review Committee recommended the Top-Bottom Approach, does it mean this issue was one of the reasons, the party faithfuls boycotted the elections? Are we now being told that on December 7, 2024, 2.1 million people sat in their individual rooms and said, because NPP did not elect flag bearer in January 2022, they were not going to cast their votes? It does not make sense.
On his Claim Two, Nana B, again described as false and baseless, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng’s claim that the National Executives adopted the Top-Bottom Approach and rather it was the responsibility of the National Council to determine the date of presidential primaries. Before, I come to expose further lapses in the Nana B’s statement here, I ask, was Prof. Frimpong-Boateng wrong in saying the National Executives, adopted the Top-Bottom Approach? For if the National Council determined the date of the primary, the National Executives would adopt and implement it.
Now let us read what Nana B stated: The NPP Constitution, under Article 13(1)(1), is unequivocal that the National Council is the only body mandated to fix the date and venue for the election of the Party’s Presidential Candidate.
Now what is the National Council? Article 10 (3 (1)) states that “there shall be a National Council, which subject to the decisions of the National Delegates conference, shall direct the affairs of the Party in between meetings of the National Delegates Conference, and for this purpose may give such directives to the National Chairperson as may be considered necessary for the well-being of the Party.”
Which means that the Council shall act on the decisions of the National Delegates Conference and not only that whatever decisions the National Council takes, shall be forwarded to the National Chairperson and implemented after it is considered necessary for the well-being of the Party.
Simply put, the desire for early primary should have first come from within the party base, and this shall be taken to the National Delegates Conference for decision to be taken on it. If the Conference agrees, then the National Council shall determine the date and it shall be adopted by the National Executives.
So, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng is right. And, the National Delegates Conference is the highest decision-making body in the party. Its decisions override that of the National Council.
And also, we ask what constitutes the National Council? Article 10(3 (2)) states that the National Council consists of voting members of the National Executive committee; twenty (20) sitting Parliamentarians chosen by the Party’s Parliamentary Group; regional representatives; Past National Chairpersons, Past Presidents, and Past Vice Presidents, Presidential Candidates, Running Mates, and Past General Secretaries. So, as it is, the National Executives are fully represented on the National Council and by the way, who chairs the Council?
And interestingly, from the look of the members of the Council, apart from past presidents and past vice presidents, past national chairpersons and past general secretaries, and to some lesser extent the presidential candidates and running mates, all other members of the Council would benefit from the Top-Bottom Approach because it could fulfil their dreams of being retained in office.
And can Nana B, explain in details, why he thinks the presidential candidate is not part of the party organisational structure, quoting from Article 5? If the flag bearer is not part of the party’s organisational structure, then how come he becomes the leader of the party? And by the way, what is the party fighting elections for? The flag bearer is the most vital part of the party’s structures.
It is, therefore, important to note that all structures of the party must first be well secured by competent people and the party machinery must be moving smoothly with peace and unity prevailing, before the flag bearer can be elected. Therefore, I agree with Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng that the current mess, chaos and disunity in the NPP must first be resolved before a flag bearer is elected.
Nana B, is saying this Top-Bottom Approach was the recommendation of the Frank-Davies-led Constitution Amendment Committee report, which reported that virtually all proposals received from party members called for early primaries.
This cannot be true? Long before the NEC proposed a national delegates conference, party members across board were trumpeting for an expansion of the Electoral College. It was later that the National Executives publicly suggested a Top-Bottom Approach, without even explaining the reasonable benefits the party would derive from that. So, the Top-Bottom Approach idea came from the top.
And by the way, was the Legon conference conducted strictly according to the party Constitution?
On his, Claim Three, Nana B, attacked Prof. Frimpong-Boateng for saying the National executives are scheming to rig the flag bearer elections for their preferred candidate. What is wrong with what Prof said? In fact, the rigging had already been well conceptualized, agreed upon, signed and implemented, under the regime of Nana Addo.
That was when polling station executive aspirants were handpicked across the country and this brought violence in some constituencies, which were widely reported. With the same people going to elect a flag bearer, what would one expect? The rigging continues unabated.
In his conclusion, Nana B accused Prof. Frimpong-Boateng as one of the contributing factors in the NPP defeat in 2024. What exactly did Prof do? Nana B is saying that Prof Frimpong-Boateng provided the NDC with campaign material, particularly on the galamsey issue.
Prof. Frimpong Boateng as minister and Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee Against Illegal Mining, was asked by the president to investigate what was going on. Which he did, stating the truth as it was, and he gave the “Confidential Report” to the president, who passed it on to the powers that be in the Jubilee House.
For some reason, they did not take it kindly and Nana Addo dissolved the Committee on January 10, 2021 and Prof was no longer included in government.
Unfortunately, in the determination to destroy Prof’s reputation someone leaked the report and party communicators including an MP went about condemning Prof. Frimpong-Boateng
Is Nana B actually telling Ghanaians that if his party members are destroying the country, no other party member must rebuke them and ask them to do the right thing? Is this not a new breed of corruption? If the Nana Addo administration had implemented recommendations in that report, perhaps today, galamsey would have toned down drastically.
And is Nana B, aware that the Minerals Commission also wrote almost the same report and submitted to Nana Addo? Nana B seems to be promoting things that will destroy the NPP.
By Hon. Daniel Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.
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