NPP member cautions party against complacency

A leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)in Brong-Ahafo, Mr. Frank Adjapong, on Thursday cautioned the party against complacency and called for an intensive campaign for an overwhelming victory in the upcoming December polls.

He told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Sunyani that from all indications, the NPP would win the general election but was quick to add, “this shouldn’t make us over complacent”.

Mr. Adjapong, who once contested for the regional chairmanship of the party but was defeated, emphasized that internal wrangling, backbiting and petty squabbles that existed within the rank and file of the party should be avoided.

These problems, he noted, caused the party dearly in the 2008 general election and advised members of the party to demonstrate unity of purpose and tackle those challenges for total victory.

Mr. Adjapong said victory for Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo-Addo, the flagbearer, was victory for all and that “under no circumstance should any member of the party harbor anything against the choice of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, an economist as the running mate in the election”.

He reiterated that the government had lost focus, saying, now that many of the citizenry had realized the mistake they made and voted for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2008, the NPP should sell their ideologies and philosophies upon which the party was formed to the electorate.

Mr. Adjapong noted with concern that for the past three and half years, the NDC had no realistic legacy to base their campaigns on for the votes of the Ghanaian electorate.

“If we refuse to tell the public about what we did, the NDC would capitalize on that and take credit for some of our policies such as the National Health Insurance Scheme, School feeding programme, free maternal delivery, National Youth Employment Programme, among others”, he stated.

Mr. Adjapong said the only way the NPP could capture power was for members, sympathizers and activists to campaign with dynamism and vigour to be able to reach the electorate, especially those at the grassroots.

In a related development, Mr. Joseph Kumah, NPP aspiring parliamentary candidate for Sene West constituency, appealed to supporters of the party to guard against statements that could mar the elections.

He told the GNA that the NPP was poised to win the elections and this could be if the general election was held in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility.

Mr. Kumah who is the International Manager of Media Savvy Training Solutions in the United Kingdom, emphasized that all members and supporters of the NPP should endeavour to be tolerant even at the extreme provocation from oppossing parties.

He said supporters of the NPP should be wary that because the NDC knew it would lose the election, the party had adopted strategies to provoke the NPP so that confusion would erupt and mar the elections.

If this happened, the government could capitalize on that to use the state machinery to rig the election, Mr. Kumah observed.

He appealed to the electorate, especially those in the Sene West constituency to vote for Nana Akuffo-Addo and him as the area was still underdeveloped and lacked basic amenities because of the poor leadership of Mr. Twumasi Appiah, the incumbent Member of Parliament for the constituency.

Mr. Kumah advised the various political parties to embrace and jealously preserve the prevailing peace as the international community regarded the 2012 general election as a test of Ghana’s democratic maturity.**