By Kwabena Manu (Pancho), New York November 1, 2009

I believe that as NPP members we are all tied up together in a single garment of destiny and caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality. This is why OMOV should have been tested for this upcoming exercise and the National Executive Council would not have had to hold any meeting in the midst of ongoing constituency elections to bar its Members of Parliament from partaking in the day to day organization of the ongoing exercise.

The upcoming elections to choose newly constituted officers of the National Executive should be a no brainer for the individuals who will be voting to elect these new officers assuming that the candidates contesting for the position of chairman is limited to Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, Felix Owusu Adjapong, Charles Wireko Brobbey, Stephen Ntim and Sammy Crabbe.

As much as I am an ardent believer of democracy and have nothing whatsoever against these candidates pursuing their dreams, I also have the democratic right of expression to make my views public.

It is said that “If a man is afraid to die for something that he is willing to live for, then he isn’t fit to live”.

Everyone has a right to embark on a political career and also have aspirations. The rationale that some of our respected elders choose to descend instead of ascending the political ladder beats my imagination.

Why would Jake and Owusu Adjapong – two former Ministers in the Kufuor administration as well as former presidential aspirants decide to run for the chairmanship of our party? Why would Wireko Brobbey – former Chief Executive of the Ghana @ 50 who rose to fame through political appointments and not because of his service to the party tradition decide to contest the NPP chairmanship knowing very well that there are so much allegations of fraud surrounding the Ghana @50?

What has our party come down to? There is no patriotism amongst some within the New “Patriotic” Party but greed and selfishness. We are heading towards a political doom with these kinds of attitudes.

I urge all the prospective voters to reject Jake, Owusu Adjapong and Wireko Brobbey.

This narrows the candidates to Stephen Ntim and Sammy Crabbe. We need a young and enthusiastic individual for our party chairmanship. I hope the voters will not be bought and that they will take the money from the candidates and choose SAMMY CRABBE who at this time is the “lesser of the evils” to take our party to the next level.

Why was Stephen Ntim rejected the last time around? He was put in the race to serve the interest of some individuals and not the party as a whole. Will it be any different this time around?

It is sad that some within our party believe in their unreasonable minds that the NPP belongs to them.

If we have the minutest chance of capturing power in 2012, then we as a party must begin to listen, understand, patch our differences and share a common destiny with the grassroots and our brothers and sisters in the trenches.