God willing, this weekend, there will be a National Delegates Conference of the New Patriotic Party which will elect the party’s national executives to run the affairs of the party for the next four years.
It is the plea of many NPP supporters that the delegates will go out there to selflessly elect officers who will bring back the spirit which effectively run the party the decade or two, after it was formed.
Delegates are to go out there and not be greedy and selfish, chasing after money and voting for the highest bidders even if it is obvious that those, they may vote for will not be able to manage the affairs of the NPP.
The life of the NPP and especially, in this case when the clarion call is to break the eight and make H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo the first president of this republic to hand-over power to an elected president from his own party, lies in the thumbs of the delegates.
There is an Akan adage which goes like this, that “as you advise the cat, you must also advise the fish.” And so, I will plead with the powers that be, not to coerce or force delegates to vote for executives of their choices but rather allow them to painstakingly, make up their minds to vote for people they know can do the job.
Ghanaians, especially the UP Tradition, are praying that delegates become their own bosses and do the right thing by putting into office only those who can help this party become what it used to be and is well known for, that is respect for diverse views and rule of law.
This current national executive committee (NEC), under the leadership of Hon. Freddy Blay, will go down in history as the most ineffective in the Tradition dating back from October, 1957, almost sixty-five years. Party matters which could breed conflicts are not adequately addressed and even if the NEC came out with its own directives which must be abide by all members, Ghanaians watched with shock as some of the national executives disobeyed the same rules they enacted and were never made to answer.
However, when other party members did same, they got punished with suspension. And in all this, not once did the national chairman come out to address issues and put his foot down that no matter who disobeyed party rules, the person would get punished.
What came out was that those who held powers in the constituencies started doing what they like, contrarily to set down rules and regulations and for the first time, polling station executive elections which used to take place without fanfare and very quietly, suddenly became a battle ground between those on the side of justice and those on the side of injustice. For the first time in the history of the UP Tradition, what we stood our grounds for and accused the NDC of rigging elections, the NPP was seen doing even worse.
And it was when the conflicts begun from the day nomination forms were been distributed, we heard the national chairman speak and when he did, he only spoke about extending the date of nomination of aspirants, nothing about how to resolve the conflicts.
To say that due to these disorganisations of the running of the Party, the NPP today is at it lowest, would be an understatement. The NPP should not be what it is today and if things continue like this, then the UP Tradition would soon cease to exist.
This is the desire of the socialists in this country. They have been wrongly blaming the UP Tradition for been responsible for the overthrow of Nkrumah, but they always hide away from the question of who overthrew the first and only united Nkrumahist party in government, the PNP, and effectively halted Nkrumahism in Ghana. Who said the only thing Nkrumah gave to Ghana was the national flag and the national anthem?
Rawlings made an attempt many attempts to erase the UP Tradition from existence, from murdering UP elements, seizing businesses and industries belonging to suspected members of the UP Tradition and using his limited powers to collapse anything belonging to anyone suspected to be from the Tradition.
The UP Traditionalists saw this as an attack from an enemy from the outside and came together, stronger than ever to make the tradition stand up against all enemy forces.
Today, unfortunately, it looks like the enemy is within and effectively dismantling the structures and foundations of the UP Tradition. Originally, no one decides who should lead the party as party executive, parliamentarian or president of the republic. It is the independent mindedness of the ordinary party member who decided who was what. But not today.
Today, more than ever, the NPP needs a solid executive committee that will bring back the spirit that saw this party unique, outstanding and very attractive during the PNDC and the NDC 1 and 2 eras. It is not too late to restore these qualities and lead the party and Ghanato places we all need to be and belong to.
This depends on the delegates going to caste their votes during the National Delegates Conference this weekend. They should not be luredinto circumstances that manifested during the constituency and regional elections and know that the fate of the NPP and the UP Tradition lie in their thumbs and if they want to be remembered as having put in place people who turned the collapsing fortunes of the NPP round and saw that it hit back on the road of success, then they must disregard all gifts and promises and vote for the right people.
May the Holy Spirit of God fill all delegates and lead them to make the right choices.
Hon. Daniel Dugan
