The New Patriotic Party, of which I support is in the process of electing new party officers to prepare it towards the 2016 elections. For us to have a good chance at winning , We need to elect a General Secretary who is sensible, sober, strategic and above all will take the time and the effort to build a solid party machinery that will stand the test of time and most importantly win elections.
One of the grievous mistakes the party made at its last congress was to elect Mr Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, known as Sir John as its General Secretary, a man with no track record in NPP politics and the results are there for all to see. Today NPP is seriously fractured with conflicts in almost all the constituencies , a secretariat riddled with mediocrity and confusion, an ineffective communication and research set up, polling agents still not paid after elections for months, a General Secretary obsessed with enriching himself at the expense of the party, a party with a huge task to overturn a 29 seat deficit in parliament and above all no accountability and transparency at all levels.
Our current General Secretary is not even trusted to supervise and conduct proper and transparent elections for our party. If you are struggling to do a simple thing as a programme how can you strategize with others to win General Elections?
Mr Owusu Afriyie complains about being lampooned by party members. We have every right to lampoon him as he has closed all channels of communication in the party and he is a non performer. He is a general who has led his troops to a crushing defeat and its not a laughing matter, and he seems to be the only person laughing. What are his achievements as General secretary I ask? Mr Owusu Afriyie’s arrogant style of leadership and his utterances have weakened the party ,driven away a lot of members and prevented potential new members from joining and supporting the party. The level of mediocrity and weakness in NPP structures under his leadership across the country is real and cannot be glossed over .We need serious restructuring and we cannot do it with a man whose plan is to mix palaver sauce with garden egg stew !
The biggest accusation that the party can level against Sir John is his lack of knowledge of the state of the party in the constituencies. I challenge Sir John to tell party members how many constituencies he visited during his 4 year reign. Can he have the courage tell NPP members
why he even failed to visit any of the 45 newly created constituencies?
Which General Secretary in their right mind 3 months before a general election ,will be travelling across the United States of America when his opponents in other parties were visiting chiefs in Brong Ahafo and Western Region soliciting for votes?
NPP should check its history. In 1997 it replaced the late Agyenim Boateng who failed miserably to win elections with Professor Adu Boahen and John Agyekum Kufuor in 1992 and 1996 respectively with Dan Botwe and the results are there for all to see, 2 victories against the NDC in 2000 and 2004 . It was a focused, well managed and well drilled opposition party hungry for power. We have lost that hunger for power under Sir John.
We need men and women who have the face and the clout to do the necessary things for us to win power, not men like Sir John and Jake Obestebi Lamptey who have run out of ideas ,do not listen to anybody and are short of breath . They have nothing to show except another crushing defeat, the worst since 1992.
We don’t need General Secretaries who go cup in hand begging party members abroad to give them money for their personal use .We don’t need General Secretaries who set up foundations abroad to raise money for their pockets instead of raising funds to honour promises made to the polling agents like myself who have still not been given their allowances for the 2012 elections . Does he think we will listen to him and trust him again? Sir John is only running just to be General Secretary to continue making money for himself, not to do anything else. This is not fair to NPP.
All the mediocre leaders like him who are causing so much pain and havoc across our constituencies, regions and at national level, who only see the NPP as a cash cow or a pension society must be voted out. The party needs new leaders with new ideas and new thinking to win power .

I am done.

Katakyie Kwabena Osei Bonsu
KNUST
Kumasi
0265455567