New Political Party Formed

A NEW political party, Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD), has been formed and registered with the Electoral Commission (EC) to contest the December 2008 elections and any other elections.

The new party, which has all its regional offices ready, with “Youth in Service for Development” as its slogan, goes to its national congress to elect a flagbearer in February 2008.

In accordance with the Political Party Act 2000, RPD has since October 2, 2007 paid GH¢500 with receipt No. 218524 for forms which have duly been submitted together with the list of all founding members and principal officers to the EC for registration as a political party.

According to the Interim Chairman of the party, Mr. Kwabena Adjei, alias Bambata, who once contested for position of the Ashanti Regional Youth Organiser of NPP, a provisional certificate would be provided by the EC this week after which the party would move to open constituency offices.

Adjei announced that Messrs Charles Boateng and Kwame Manu Sarpong were the Interim General Secretary and National Treasurer respectively of the party.

Bambata hinted that membership of the party was a blend of sympathisers of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC), but explained that 95% of its founding members were NPP activists, including polling station chairmen and foot soldiers.

The NPP National Organiser, Lord Commey, however, told The Chronicle that they would have to investigate whether Bompata and the so called NPP activists were, indeed, NPP card-bearing members.

He noted that no one had informed them about such agitations in the party, adding that he was not aware of any split.

According to the interim chairman, RPD was a youth-centred party which aimed to address the needs of the youth.

He said RPD was formed with the youth in mind but not the aged or those who had been victimised in various ways by the Revolution and others who seemed marginalised by various governments of in the past or the present.

Bambata said there were people who had lost their jobs, properties, and relations or got tortured in the heat of the 1979 Revolution as well as others who pulled resources to fund the NPP but were eventually marginalized, hence the formation of the party to prove to Ghanaians that the RPD was more democratic.

Asked if the party had not come too late, Bambata said its strategy was to split votes and force the election into a second round by which time it could enter into an electoral alliance or a serious pact with some of the main political parties as the CPP did with the NPP in the last two elections.

Earlier this year, Bambata’s Patriotic Youth of Ghana (PYG) announced its intention to form the Reformed Patriotic Party (RPP) and proposed the choice of a young and energetic person as the flagbearer to lead the NPP as a condition to rescind its decision. The proposed RPP was informed by the alleged imposition of “old faces” on the party at various levels, citing some of them as serving three terms (12 years) as MPs and at the same time serving eight years out of the 12 years as ministers.

The youth, according to Bambata, were angered the more by the fact that some of those “old faces” in spite of the gains so far, still want to aspire to be the flagbearer of the party and assume the presidency.

Bambata said the youth were opposed to any of the “old faces” clinging to power at the expense of the youth who should be given the chance to build upon their experiences, saying the “Leadership of the party is not a dynasty.”

“If the same people continue in office, how can the youth build upon their experiences?” he questioned.

According to him the NPP was formed while in opposition and therefore no particular individual could claim it as a bonafide property. It would be recalled on February 17, this year, this paper published the threat by Bompata and his group to form a party but the idea was abandoned following the intervention of some NPP big shots.