NPP General Secretary, Justin Frimpong Kodua
Not long ago, the National Executives of the New Patriotic Party(NPP) issued a caveat, warning members of the party especially national, regional, and constituency officers, as well as other leading members like ministers of state, Members of Parliament(MPs), Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives(MMDCEs) not to openly or clandestinely declare support or campaign for or against any aspirant, desiring to contest the flagbearership slot of the NPP.
This directive, led by the General Secretary of the party, lawyer Justin Frimpong Kodua, was followed by a statement issued through him for and on behalf of the national party.
The General Secretary supported this with relevant portions of the party's constitution that bar executives and other officers who ought to act as referees, from engaging in open support or campaigning in favour or against an aspirant.
This according to the statement, is to help avert the acrimonious situations, which usually create divisions in the party after a contest.
Notwithstanding these directives, some members of the party who are office holders, are engaging in open declarations for some of the flagbearer aspirants, in defiance with impunity and no national officer seems to bother about this disturbing trend.
It could be recalled that Mr. Hopeson Adorye, a leading member of NPP was rumoured to have been summoned by the Disciplinary Committee of the party to answer questions about remarks he had made earlier during a health walk organised by supporters of Mr. Alan Kyerematen. Since then, any other related offence, seems to have been ignored by the party's top hierarchy.
For example, recently, the MP for Yendi, Hon. Farouk Aliu Mahama organised party people in a group meeting in his constituency and vehemently campaigned for Vice President Dr. Mahamud Bawumia to be elected as a flagbearer of the NPP.
In a video that went viral, the Yendi M.P. was seen and heard appealing to the people gathered, to vote for the veep. Weeks have elapsed but the national executives appear not to have noticed it since no summon has been made.
Again, on the 7th of October, 2022 when the veep celebrated his birthday, the Greater Accra Regional Minster, Hon. Henry Quartey subtly declared support from himself and on behalf of the MMDCEs in the region for Dr. Bawumia.
He alluded to the point that, he and all the MMDCEs in Greater Accra, would vote for the vice president to become the flagbearer of the party.
He said, "my MMDCEs and I shall be with you on the sojourn, 7th January 2025, the Vice President, incoming....".
The question is, if these senior party members are not called to order and allowed to go scot-free, will the national executives have the courage to sanction others when they declare for other aspirants? If it goes this way, that is where the divisions and the rancour the National Executive Committee seeks to foil, will actually rear their ugly heads.
Such kind of political ventriloquism being seen, if not checked by the national chairman and the General Secretary, is likely to badly affect the fortunes of the NPP going into the 2024 elections.
This is the time for the national executives to prove to all that, they are neutral and do not have a biased position against potential contestants. They should be prepared to crack the whip at any time, it should not matter whose ox is gored.