Rumours Will Kill NPP

The Independent newspaper says a prominent member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Friday descended heavily on those he termed rumour mongers in the party, whose activities he said, could ruin the future of the party. Speaking to The Independent in a interview, the NPP guru, who was fuming with rage, said, it is absolutely outrageous and an act of sabotage for anybody to indulge in the practice of spreading rumours with the view to destabilizing the party.

He said, the practice among some NPP supporters and activists of late is to level unsubstantiated allegations of support for certain aspirants by some well-placed personalities in the party.

According to him, these are done with callous and ulterior motives to smear certain personalities, and also knock heads of key party men together to create confusion in the party; all of that in apparent show of disdain for those against whom those rumours are made.

The prominent NPP member, who pleaded anonymity, told The Independent that, some party supporters and activists, in order to look good in the eyes of some aspirants, and in anticipation of monetary rewards, would go all out and manufacture lies against other party members.

In their short-sightedness, they only succeed in sowing seeds of disagreement and hatred among party members and putting the future of the party in jeopardy. He said, in the recent development, Ministers of State and Members of Parliament are the ones who are the hardest hit by the on-going lies and rumours over which candidates this category of party faithful do support or who they intend to vote for.

This, he said, is gradually coagulating hatred that is creating rifts among the rank and file of the party, while these are getting deeply seated at all the various stages of the party and threatening the unity and stability of the party. He cautioned that, such a development could have dangerous and disastrous consequences on the party, and can serve as a recipe for its doom come the December 2008 General Elections.

The NPP guru said, the manufacturing of lies against Ministers and MPs over allegations of support for one candidate or another when, in fact, such rumours lack credibility, have only succeeded in raising suspicion and drawing a wedge between friends in the party, and such friends now regard each other with mutual suspicion.

To the prominent NPP member, this development has the tendency to destroy the party's cohesion and could only lead to humiliation if the trend is not halted. He told the paper that, as a result of what is going on in the party in respect of rumours of who supports who, the Ministers and MPs, have decided to stay away from their friends who are aspirants in order not to give credence to the false accusations.

According to him, there is evidence that some of the rumours have been engineered by opponents of MPs who do so deliberately in attempts to dig future graves for the MPs and the Ministers. That way, when the aspirants the MPs and Ministers are purported to be supporting lose, the winning aspirant would look away from (MPs and Ministers) and consider for future positions they who are behind the rumours. He described that as a wicked move, adding that, in their blind stagger to win favours in future, the rumour mongers seem not to realise that, their acts also constitute a potential attempt to disorganize the party and throw its 2008 campaign out of gear.

He advised those perpetrating such rumours to desist from such diabolic moves in order not to shoot themselves in the foot and later end up gnashing their teeth and saying, "Had we known," which someone has described as the philosophy of fools.

The NPP guru indicated that, the actions of the rumour mongers have the propensity to tear the party apart, and given the fact that it is left with only a year to elections, the task of patching up old alliances and friendships for the purposes of campaigning with a united front could prove a Herculean one. He advised Ministers and MPs, who are being smeared in these rumours to ignore them with all the contempt the rumours deserve.

“Do not be disturbed by the development, but stand firm and work hard to ensure the total victory of the party in the 2008 General Elections,” he said.