INTRODUCTION
On 2nd September 2022, His Excellency Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo was joined by a high powered delegation as he toured the Central Region of Ghana. As part of his tour he inspected the construction of a court complex at afaakor where he made pronouncements that sought to undermine the NPP’s code of conduct and the National Executive of the party. Such pronouncements and attitude forms part of the reason why majority in Parliament almost eluded us in the last general election.
LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE
John Maxwell once said that a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. The NPP Party is the only ruling party in the 4th Republic with someone from the opposition as Speaker of Parliament. Again for the first time in our history, we are unable to have a clear and commanding majority in Parliament and some of these utterances in the past have cost us dearly, bringing us to where we are now.
In recent times the NPP Party’s national executive have sent a clarion call to all leaders in the rank and file of the party to observe our party’s code of conduct, however the first gentleman of the party our dearly beloved Addo Show-Boy flouted this code when he endorsed and openly campaigned for Eugene Arhin for the party’s Parliamentary Primaries in the Awutu Senya West Constituency. It would have been expected that His Excellency would Honour the code so that it will be a good example for others to follow, but this was not the case.
THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME
It will be recalled that His Excellency made a similar pronouncement at Kumawu in the build up to the 2020 elections where he openly endorsed Ahomka Lindsay ahead of the incumbent MP, Hon. Philip Atta Basoah in his presence. It happened again at New Juaben South where His Excellency is said to have endorsed Michael Okyere Baafi ahead of Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah. There are countless instances of such attitude of our president to handpick who he wants to be MP instead of respecting the choice of the masses.
It will also be recalled that in the heat up to election 2020, it was said that the President says he cannot work with the Fomena MP, Hon. Andrew Asiamah Amoako, yet today he’s the reason why have a slim majority in Parliament, The list can go on and on and on including Bantama, Asikuma Odoben Brakwa, La Dade Kotopon, Akwatia, etc.
LOSS OF PARLIAMENTARY SEATS
Some have suggested that the President’s pick-and-choose attitude is what made the NPP to lose a lot of seats in Parliament as some grassroot Supporters chose to vote skirt and blouse in protest to what was done in imposing Parliamentary candidates on them… It is also said that not only was the president endorsing who to support but his cronies took advantage of his behavior to sabotage certain MPs on the NPP ticket to lose the National Parliamentary
Elections; so that the constituency would become orphaned, paving way for the President’s own choice to easily get the nod to contest the next election. This could be said about Madina, and other places.
THE PRESIDENT’S CALL FOR UNITY IS NOT GENUINE.
At the recently held National Executive Elections, President Akufo-Addo said that “the NPP is at its best when we are united and operating as a focused entity. I, thus, urge all in the NPP to unite strongly behind our new national officers, for it is only by working together that we can “Break the Eight”, and help deliver progress and prosperity to the Ghanaian people, he said.
His speech then and his conduct now suggest that his call for unity was not born out of a genuine concern but was a superficial Pronouncement just to excite party members.
WHAT IS EXPECTED OF HIS EXCELLENCY
What every ordinary party member will genuinely require from His Excellency would be to campaign for whoever the party chooses, not to impose candidates.
Also, Nana Addo should think more about the legacy he’s leaving behind and follow the shining example of our past leaders.
CONCLUSION
Your Excellency, the stream of Unity that flows through the heart of all party members should not be muddied by your fetching habit. As you have already said, we need unity to break the eight.
I pen this with love and a huge respect for the high office of the President of Ghana and it is my belief that His Excellency will make the necessary amends to forearm the party for another victory
Thank you