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Opinions of Thursday, 13 December 2012

Columnist: Thompson, Kofi

The Multi-culturalists Must Take Over The New Patriotic Party

By Kofi Thompson

As the leadership of the New Patriotic Party ponder how to confront the reality they currently face, perhaps they can learn a few things from comments made by young university students about their party.

Asked what they thought about the refusal of the New Patriotic Party to accept the outcome of the presidential election, one student said: "If you are a closet tribal-supremacist who had been dreaming of a powerful position at the presidency, under a President Akufo-Addo, and felt that victory for your party in this year's presidential election was a no-brainer, accepting defeat does not come easy." Food for thought, say I.

Another student said: "It appears that for many in the New Patriotic Party, it is hard accepting the reality that in fact their party does not have as widespread an appeal as they previously thought - and that actually it is largely a party dominant in only two out of the ten regions of Ghana".

Yet another young student said: "There are those who say that the trouble about the New Patriotic Party, is that far too many tribal-supremacist individuals with inflated egos, who harbour hidden personal wealth-creation agendas at the expense of others, simply see the party as a special purpose vehicle for the fulfilment of their personal ambitions".

"To be successful nationwide, a new leadership of young, idealistic and cosmopolitan individuals - who understand the futility of a revival of the power and influence of the progeny of one group of the pre-colonial traditional ruling elites - must take over the party".

"Ordinary Ghanaians are not enamoured with the parochialism of those who seem to feel that a nation of ethnic-diversity, can be dominated by one constituent part of what is a multi-ethnic nation in which no ethnic group is superior or inferior to another".

"Those who hold such views are living in a bygone age. It is so passe - and simply daft. One hopes that the multi-culturalists in the New Patriotic Party will take over that party to secure its future". Food for thought, dear reader?

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