NPPs Biggest Catch 22: To Do Or Not To Do

…As Wereko-Brobby Counsels NPP

By Margaret Jackson

January 23, 2013

I was held spellbound after reading an open letter by Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, a leading member of the NPP, urging the NPP to square the circle or cut out the comic tragedy that has engulfed the party. I could not help myself by reading the letter all over again, and I recommend that all those who care a lot about the NPP do same. Please go and read the open letter with an open mind and you will surely become an open-minded person.

Immediately the 2012 polls closed, the NPP for some reason/s turned into a comical party with changing habits and different stories each passing day. The way things have been handled by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the former flagbearer of the NPP and his henchmen have left sour taste in the mouths of many people who care a lot about the NPP.

But because Akufo-Addo holds a lot of sway on the party by virtue of ‘controlling’ majority of the party’s delegates, almost everybody in the NPP who do not like the state of affairs in the party have chickened out leaving Akufo-Addo with an uninterrupted power to do his own thing with the party.

That is why the letter by Dr. Wereko-Brobby urging the NPP to direct its energies towards winning the 2016 elections is not only timely, but refreshing and courageous. Wereko-Brobby simply spoke the minds of the silent majority in the NPP who have read behind the lines that Akufo-Addo and some few people are tearing the NPP apart if they have not already done so.

The logic propagated by Wereko-Brobby in his letter is simply fantastic. According to Wereko-Brobby, the NPP cited over 4700 polling stations in its case before the Supreme Court. Therefore, Dr. Wereko-Brobby thinks it is only reasonable for the NPP to ask all its MP’s in those affected constituencies to step aside until the case is determined if the party thinks it is very principled.

Dr. Wereko-Brobby who will go down in history for taking his party on at this crucial time, pointedly, wondered why the NPP which is questioning the credibility of the Electoral Commission (EC) have not yet rejected the results in the constituencies in which the party won parliamentary seats.

Kindly hear Dr. Wereko-Brobby in his own words, “Better still, as it is the same EC which conducted the elections in the constituencies in which the NPP won Parliamentary seats, the Party must reject those results as well and ASK ITS MPS TO BOYCOTT PARLIAMENT TOTALLY UNTIL THE SUPREME COURT DETERMINES THE SUIT.”

What this leading member of the NPP next wrote will only come from somebody without a myopic view of what is currently happening. He wrote: “Otherwise, the NPP will show itself up as only accepting the EC’s conduct as fair and without malice where the NPP is victorious.” The NPP or the UP Tradition has created a pattern in the country’s political history which has served as an eye opener to most political minds. The pattern is, if the NPP wins an election it is genuine, but if they lose then the election was stolen. And it is this pattern that Wereko-Brobby attempted to break in his letter.

Another issue which Dr. Wereko-Brobby strongly addressed in his letter has got to do with the upcoming vetting of President Mahama’s ministerial nominees in parliament. The NPP claims that President Mahama is an ‘illegal’ president which is why they refused to attend his inauguration. Therefore, Dr. Wereko-Brobby is wondering out loud why the NPP MPs have geared themselves up to vet the nominees of a president who they claim is ‘illegal’. Here is another take by Dr. Wereko-Brobby, “Whilst we are at it, let the NPP in Parliament abandon the farce of taking part in the vetting of Ministers nominated by the President whose election they do not recognize, again until such time as the Supreme Court pronounces in the petition.” But when the heat descended heavily on the NPP, its leadership came out to say that, they will not take part in the vetting process of the nominees.

Dr. Wereko-Brobby further questioned the credibility of the NPP by saying, “Also, since it is only President Mahama who can commit the public funds of Ghana, let the NPP in Parliament suspend its participation in Parliament since that body’s agenda is only to debate and approve policies and programmes which impose a charge on the Public purse of Ghana.”

Dr. Wereko-Brobby put the nail in the NPPs coffin by stating that, “Unless the NPP’s leadership carries through with all of the foregoing, some of us who have as much roots in the formation of the NPP and its antecedent parties will not comprehend the logic or sense in the boycott of the bye-elections. The 2016 General Elections is less than four years ago. The NPP must be spending its energies getting ready to contest and this time SECURES THE VICTORY that the overwhelming majority of Ghanaians will vote for. An essential pre-requisite for convincing the majority of Ghanaians (not just the “yente gyae fanatics”) is to demonstrate a commitment to principled democratic conduct and not knee jerk self-promotional gimmicks.”

Sensible words have poured out of Dr. Wereko-Brobby’s pen. But the hawks in the NPP have started jumping on him with some giving him the negative accolades. This shows that the “yente gyae fanatics” are not yet to let go.

And as this beat goes on, the NPP goes down! Akufo-Addo currently has nothing to lose, but the NPP as a party does. Truly the NPP will never be the same after this episode!

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