Lawyer advises NPP against complacency

Sunyani (Western Region) 6 April '99

The recent victory of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ablekuma Central parliamentary bye-elections is not a guarantee that the party would win the year 2000 elections. Members, basking in the euphoria of the victory in the bye- elections, must therefore eschew complacency and rather work towards the institution of effective organisational and monitoring structures at the grassroots to boost the party's chances of winning power in the next elections. A Sunyani based legal practitioner and a leading member of the Brong Ahafo branch of the party, Nana Obiri Boahen stated this in a chat with newsmen at Sunyani on Monday. Nana Obiri Boahen said there is the tendency for supporters of the party to be hoodwinked into believing that the ease with which the party won the bye-election indicated that victory in the next elections is a foregone conclusion. Nana Obiri Boahen cautioned that such a mentality would be costly for the party and stressed the need for members to take the party's message of hope redemption and good governance to every nook and cranny of the country. There is a growing recognition among Ghanaians that the NPP is the only credible alternative to years of misrule and mismanagement of the present government, he stated. The party, he said, therefore, needed to intensify its campaign in every part of the country so that the electorate in every village would be convinced beyond doubt that the NPP has the men and programmes to improve the socio-economic fortunes of Ghanaians. Nana Obiri Boahen congratulated Mr Okunley Nortey for retaining the Ablekuma central seat for the party and advised him to accommodate and co-operate with his electorate irrespective of their political inclinations for the good of his constituency.