NPP should expose those behind early congress proposal

There have been calls for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to name the individual or group that pushed forward the proposal for the party to organize an early congress to elect a flagbearer for the 2016 election.

The controversial proposal which was tabled before the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NPP almost tore the party apart.

In a meeting held Thursday, the NPP’s NEC dropped the proposal and outlined a new timetable, scheduling the election of the flagbearer to March 2014; thus maintaining the “Bottom-To-Top” status quo. Even though it has been alleged that the contentious proposal was brought forward by the National Chairman of the NPP, Mr. Jake Otanka Obetsebi Lamptey and some national executives of the party, the NPP has not officially come out to name who made the proposal.

A leading member of the ruling National Democratic Congress and Deputy Minister of Information, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, strongly believes it will be in the interest of the opposition party to disclose those behind the proposal.

Analyzing the issue on ‘Kokrokoo’ on PeaceFM, Kwakye-Ofosu said revealing the identity or identities of advocates of that particular proposal will inform future debates and help in making better inferences.

“Up to now, we don’t even know who or which group of people fueled that agenda,” he said.

Backing this call on the same platform, Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr questioned why the NPP wants to keep the identity of the individual or group behind the proposal a secret.

“It seems like nobody in the NPP wants to talk when that question is asked but there is nothing mischievous about it. What is so secret about who brought this proposal that nobody wants to talk about…?” he queried.

He was of the view that if the NPP continues to keep silent on the issue, it will fuel various suspicions.

However, in a quick rebuttal on the same platform, John Boadu, who is aspiring to be the National Organiser of the NPP, pontificated that disclosing the identity of those behind that controversial proposal was neither here nor there. To him, it is not everything that goes on in a party that must be public, when it has to do with the expression of one’s opinion.

“I don’t see the need and the importance of revealing those behind the proposal…I don’t see the head and tail of this issue. If we want to (disclose the identity); nothing stops us from doing so but we don’t want to talk about it; it is no big deal,” he stressed.