NPP Picks Flagbearer

The new Patriotic Party (NPP), will pick its Presidential Candidate for the 2008 general elections by December 2007, Daily Guide has learnt. Mr. Lord Commey, National Organizer of the party, in an interview with the paper yesterday, said the party’s constitution mandated that when it was in government, a National Delegates Congress should be held without fail eleven clear months ahead of the general elections.

Even though he could not specify the date, the organizer hinted that it could take place in December 2007. He revealed also that per the party’s constitution, nominations for the possible aspirants would be opened three months prior to the congress, stressing that as far as the party was concerned, it had no aspirant at the moment because nominations for filing had not yet opened.

“There are no aspirants as we speak today, and all those running around are just testing the waters,” he said, explaining further that the ones being bandied in the media could be described at best as ‘members conducting consultations’.

According to him, the filing of nomination would possibly take place in September next year, after which a committee would be set up to vet and probably confirm them as qualified. Lord Commey again rubbished recent polls allegedly conducted and published in the media in favour of some personalities. He disclosed that since the delegates that would be voting at the congress were not automatic choices, it was absurd to just speak to anyone on the street and refer to them as delegates.

On the up-coming three-day conference in Koforidua, the NPP whiz kid said it would be historic by all standards and chart the course to deepening democracy in the country. According to Commey, for the first time in the annals of political history in Ghana, a sitting president would avail himself for questioning by ordinary party people, and account for his stewardship to the ‘political family’.

President John Agyekum Kufuor would be taking that historic step when the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) holds its Annual National Delegates Conference in Koforidua, the Eastern regional capital, next week. The three-day conference, slated for January 5-7, 2007 at the EREDEC Hotel, would put together some 2,000 delegates from the constituencies and foreign branches, apart from thousands of observers and activists.

He said the theme of the conference would be ‘Moving Forward in Unity’, and President Kufuor would be holding what he described as a ‘fire-side chat’ with the party people to take stock of NPP's performances and strategise towards winning the 2008 general elections. “The idea is to bring the president much closer to the local party people, including polling station and ward executives from across the country,” he said.

Mr. Commey, the National Organizer, further disclosed that a questions and answers platform about the government’s policies and how they were affecting the fortunes of the party would be created. The conference, he said, was very significant because the party would later in the year, face the herculean task of selecting a successor to the current president. "The conference is very important because the NPP goes in search of a new leader to succeed President Kufuor. It is more or less an action year for us where our party structures and organizations would be very busy."

Apart from the stock-taking, during which key sector ministers would report on government performances in the past, the conference would seize the opportunity to look for avenues to deepen internal democracy, re-energize the faithful and resource the party.

Another challenge the conference would pose, he noted, would be how to guard against the negative tendencies that normally accompanied heated and competitive elections and plan how to come out of such a situation unscathed. The essence of the choice of Koforidua, the Eastern regional capital, may have some prophetic connotations to the organizer.

“The sun rises from the east, so the choice of a venue is very significant to us as a party. The elephant is going to rise again, and significantly, it is doing so from the east,” he concluded. The last annual national conference was held at the University of Ghana, Legon, and coincided with the election of national executives. This year’s event would discuss reports from the regions. Five delegates each are expected from the 230 constituencies across the country.

It would be climaxed on Sunday January 7, 2007 with a mammoth rally at the Jackson Park in the heart of the regional capital. Interestingly, it was at the same venue (EREDEC Hotel) that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) held its national conference and never came out whole as a political party.

However, Commey, the fire-brand politician, did not believe the shadows of the NDC ‘Waterloo’ in Koforidua could haunt his party, stressing, ‘This one would be different’. Some of the people that have been paraded as party members eyeing the presidency include Prof. Frimpong Boateng, Dr. K.K. Apraku, Mr. Alan Kyeremanteng and Mr. Osafo Maafo.

The rest are Nana Akufo Addo, Mr. Boakye Agyarko, Prof. Mike Oquaye, Mr. Arthur Kennedy, Daniel Botwe, Hackman Owusu Agyeman, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, Kwabena Agyepong and Nkrabeah Effah Dartey.