NPP: Should Not Repeat Past Mistakes--Chairmanship positions

In just two months the NPP organization members around the globe will convene in Ghana under the auspices of the party constitution to elect new national executive members in December 2009. This includes the national chairman, general secretary and many other heads within the organization.

The NPP cannot repeat the mistakes made in 2005, with the selection of the national executives members when Dan Kwaku Botwe, Akufo Addo, Yaw Osafo Maafo and Assin Fosu (MP) Kennedy Agyepong the knucklehead legislator orchestrated a coup d’etat at the NPP National delegate conference. These people bribed some delegates to vote for their preferred Candidate Peter Mac Manu and his criminal counterpart Lord Commey the national organizer in last minutes. We all have witnessed the disastrous performance of these aforementioned individuals, which as a result is one of the major reasons why the party is in opposition. The criminal conduct they exhibited during the 2007 NPP presidential and parliamentarian nomination delegate conference at the University of Ghana nearly broke the party. Those NPP members who live in the capital think they have the hegemonic powers to decide who should get what. Now we need to refrain from such a dangerous attitude immediately. This great NPP tradition will not allow these sycophants to think that they can use the media to advance their selfish egocentric interests. Politics is not about individuals living in the capital but is about numbers. The regions such as Eastern, Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and especially the Western region, which produce great numbers of interested participating in our political process, are the core foundation of this great institution. This is where we need to focus to choose our party chairman. Why is that? I will explain in my next article.

Nananum, ladies and gentleman the National Patriotic Party (NPP) needs to take these regions back from the NDC, Brong Ahafo and Western regions to our organization for the next general elections. In order for the party to do that we need to elect a credible individual for the national chairmanship position, someone who has vision, integrity, honesty and offers progress for this organization. Currently there is nobody who can handle these positions more than Mr. Stephen Ntim from the Brong Ahafo Region. Ntim has good socialization and support from the majority of the grass roots members across the country. They like him, and respect him very much due to the ways he presents himself to them. According to my investigation on the ground from the Northern to Central region and other regions they are ready to put the past behind them and move on by electing Ntim as their next NPP chairman. The infighting between Jack Obetsebi Lamptey and the Greater Accra Regional Chairman of NPP Sammy Crabbe shows how those who live in the capital think they have absolute powers over others in different regions in this organization. However when the election comes they cannot even produce their region for the party; they first need a realty check before they even think of this position. Sammy Crabbe and Obetsebi Lamptey are not good party stewards to lead this organization. They have big criminals issues among the Ghanaian populace. One is about Ghana international airlines; the other is using criminal conduct to acquire government properties without due process.

An old saying goes that Leadership is action but not position. We need individual like Ntim who has demonstrated his love already taking awesome actions to support the needs of the heart and soul of the party foot soldiers across the country financially. These actions taken by Ntim for all these years will not only yield a better result from these hard working party members that to further work even harder for him as their chairmen. He will bring unity for this organization. Stephen Ntim is not an ideologue. He’s a pragmatic leader of action who believes that real progress is more valuable than symbolic efforts. In addition Ntim will not only rely on decentralization but will also establish an organizational system by engaging these foot soldiers directly to take effective action in their day-to-day assignments on the ground to help the party to win in the 2012 general elections. Let us all join hands and support Stephen Ntim and his vision for the chairmanship for the progress for the NPP organization.

From Nana Kofi Amankwah (New York)