Monday, October 26,2009 (Front Page)
FOUR prominent members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) — Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Stephen Ntim, Samuel Crabbe and Felix Owusu-Agyapong — have resolved to contest the national chairmanship of the party on their own merit, without lending themselves to any perceived alliances.
After a critical meeting in Accra last Wednesday involving the top hierarchy of the party, it was affirmed that the regional elections to pave the way for national elections early next year would be held across the country on December 7, 2009.
In separate interviews with the Daily Graphic, some prospective contestants at the national and regional levels resolved to help produce a team more united than ever.
With the battle lines drawn for Messrs Obetsebi-Lamptey, Ntim, Crabbe and Owusu-Agyapong to contest the national chairmanship, party insiders indicated that the regional elections to be held in December posed the real challenge.
At the regional level, the contest between a former envoy to Serbia, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, and a former Attorney-General, Mr Ayikoi Otoo, for the Greater Accra chairmanship is expected to attract the greatest attention.
Either contestants has been linked to one or another faction in the party but party leaders who spoke to the Daily Graphic over the past week played down the issue.
For his part, Mr Owusu-Agyapong, a former Majority Leader in Parliament, said there was a perceived lack of unity among the rank and file of the party and that caused it to lose the 2008 elections. He added that he would work hard to resolve that issue.
He said he was a personality who appealed to all people in the party, something he had demonstrated through his reconciliatory moves in 1998 that eventually won the party power in 2000.
He said as a former Majority Leader, he had on several occasions been able to bring both the Majority and the Minority Members of Parliament (MPs) together to agree on consensus on very critical national issues, saying that skill would be applied when he became chairman of the NPP to unite all within the party to win the 2012 elections.
According to Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey, his vision was to put the NPP in a position ready and prepared to win power by ensuring that the party’s candidates were elected into office as President and MPs.
He said the NPP failed to win the first round of the 2008 elections because it failed to win majority of seats in Parliament as a result of internal bickering and fighting which, in most cases, resulted in skirt-and-blouse voting.
Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey gave the assurance that as national chairman, he would ensure that members avoided competing in a manner that would make it difficult to work together after internal elections, as well as avoid petty bickering.
Mr Ntim, one of the high-profile members contesting the national chairmanship, denied ever belonging to a faction or supporting any particular person in the party.
He said he was an “independent-minded person who acts according to his own conscience and not according to the dictates of other persons”.
Mr Ntim, who was speaking to the Daily Graphic via telephone, described rumours in 2005 that he was being supported by the then President Kufuor as “giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it”.
He contested the national chairmanship position of the party in 2005 and lost to Mr Peter Mac Manu.
He said those who concocted those untruths about him succeeded in ensuring that he lost the slot, adding, however, that that did not affect his unwavering support and loyalty to the party.
He said others also doubted his loyalty and commitment to the party but the delegates and a large number of the party’s supporters and members had now come to realise the true story and that this time around they would vote massively for him.
Mr Ntim, who used to be a vice chairman of the party before 2005, said despite the loss he suffered, he never failed to support the party in any way he could, including donations to it.
He said as a dyed in the wool NPP member, he actively supported the campaigns of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the NPP presidential candidate for the 2008 elections, and his running mate, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, till the end.
He said the unity of the party was very crucial to its quest to win political party and that no committed member of the NPP should in any way act to undermine its cohesion, especially those contesting leadership positions at all levels.
“We are in opposition and my vision is to bring the party back to power. I will ensure that whatever it takes for the party to achieve this is provided,” he said
He explained that as chairman, he would work assiduously with other executives and the rank and file to ensure that the members were well equipped with all the necessary resources and motivated to sacrifice to ensure that the party won elections.
According to the road map, to be climaxed with the election of the party’s flag bearer early next year, the party will follow the recently held polling station elections with what it calls “electoral election” before the end of this month to pave the way for the election of constituency executives before the regional elections in December, during which the Greater Accra chairmanship is expected to be the most hotly contested.
Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe has confirmed his interest in the position and proceeded to issue a statement in which he listed a team, including Ms Vivian Gershon, Mr Mike Oquaye (Jnr), Mr Daniel Nii Kwatei Titus-Glover and Alhaji Yusif, as his team members who should be elected to the positions of First Vice-Chairman, Second Vice-Chairman, Regional Secretary and Assistant Regional Secretary, respectively.
Others are Mike Ampong, Regional Organiser; Henry Quartey, Youth Organiser, and Vida Dugbatey, Women’s Organiser.
Mr Otoo is yet to confirm his interest and if he does the Greater Accra regional chairmanship election will be a two-man race.
The position of national general secretary is being contested by Ghana's former Ambassador to Japan, Dr Adjei Barwuah, Mr Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John, a Kumasi-based lawyer, and Captain Nkrabeah Effah-Darteh, a former Deputy Minister of the Interior.
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