NPP won't last second round, If ... -Jake

An acclaimed strategist of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, has warned that the party will lose the next general election and be consigned to the opposition for years, unless it wins convincingly in both the Greater Accra and the Central regions.
The Heritage newspaper quotes the aspiring presidential candidate as saying that "It is these two regions that decide the presidency.”
He said “Votes from Ashanti Region are entrenched. Votes from the Volta region are entrenched. If President Kufuor wants, he can go and lay gold road in Ho, people of the Volta Region will vote for the NDC. That is a fact of life. It is everywhere. It is the Greater Accra and Central regions that do not hold their apron strings to any political party. They hold their strength to a leader who will deliver on his promise."
And according to Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey, to win handsomely in the two critical regions requires electing a unifying candidate who will be able to attract sympathy votes from both places in next year's general election. Make the mistake of electing any other candidate, and the party would be booted out of power and foredoomed to languish in opposition infinitely.
Speaking on his second-leg tour of constituencies in the three northern regions where he met constituency executives, polling station heads, foot soldiers and opinion leaders of the party, Jake expressed the belief that he is the sole and ideal candidate who can marshal support from sympathy voters to enable the party retain power in next year's election.
He was optimistic about his capabilities, making reference to his heroic position as the Campaign Manager in the 2000 and 2004, as well as leading the NPP to win dominant votes in Greater Accra Region during his three-term tenure as the regional chairman of the party.
He contended that, if any candidate who lacked the capacity to draw votes from those two regions were elected to lead the NPP then the party should start writing its handing-over notes
Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey noted that the Central Region is one of the least developed and highly impoverished constituencies in Ghana and the only sector that can provide jobs for them is tourism, the reason he engineered the transformation of Elmina into a tourist haven and a piece of evidence of his capabilities in the tourism industry.
The former Tourism and Diasporan Relations Minister emphasized that next year's election is going to be very crucial, because the NDC has demonstrated that its support base is resolute since they had 44 percent in both the 2000 and 2004 general elections.
"In 2000, the NPP had a little over 54 percent and in 2004 it had a little over 52 percent. So our success was in decline by two percent. The CPP who had been our brothers in opposition are now positioning themselves to be a credible alternative government. With the personalities they are throwing around, we might not get the sympathy votes from Central Region and those from Western Region. That is a fact and we should not be complacent about that.
"Now, should the CPP succeed in taking just two percent of our 52 percent, there will be second round and I do not think that NPP will survive it. So, in that case you will need to get a personality like me who can attract these votes that are mainly in Greater Accra and Central regions," he declared.
He mentioned that the December 22 congress is going to be an election and a contest of ideas, and that is what the NPP delegates should look at, saying that, it is not an issue about who has suffered long for the party, because everybody, the rank and file has suffered, but that does not mean that all of them are capable of leading this country.
Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey stated that the main trust of his campaign and the reason why he wants to be president is that Ghanaians need some¬body who can carry Ghana off to another level.
He admitted that Ghana has achieved micro economic stability, which he described as excellent, saying however that the bottom line is that, "they are mere figures that need a kind of leadership that can translate them from micro economic stability to a macro economy".
The presidential hopeful indicated that he has identified one thing that is the gem that has not been tapped, which is tourism, saying that it is only through tourism that jobs can be created, it is not oil. He explained that money from oil goes first to the Central government before it is disbursed, but money from tourism goes first to the people but government taxes it.