NPP’s NEC to crack whip on Flagbearers

• Posted on April 14, 2021April 14, 2021
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) is expected to meet soon to try and find a way out on the issue of the flag bearer of the party, as the 2024 general election heightens.

The General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu, who made this known, said the highest decision-making body of the party would take a strong position on developments regarding unproductive and destructive discussions on the ruling party’s flag bearer race.

According to him, this is intended to bring sanity since “the party is much bigger than the individual ambitions of its leading members. We have not even reached the stage where the party is considering guidelines or rules and regulations for the 2024 flag bearer contest, which is three years away per the party constitution.

“The party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) is scheduled to meet very soon to deliberate on developments regarding the 2024 flag bearer contest, and would most definitely take a strong position on the matter in order to ensure that every member of the party, regardless of his or her status is called to order.”

Reacting to concerns by some NPP members in Damango in the Savannah Region last Friday during the national executive members’ tour of the region, Mr. Boadu said the party’s preoccupation was to fully constitute Akufo-Addo government to deliver on its second term mandate and not on who to succeed President Akufo-Addo.

“We just won the 2020 elections, and the President is still in the process of forming his government with the appointment of ministers, deputies, CEOs and governing boards of the various state institutions for us to start implementing our campaign promises. Our victory in 2024 will, by all means, be dependent on how this yet-to-be constituted second-term Akufo-Addo-led government performs,” he pointed out.

He wondered why some NPP leading members are rushing to look for a successor for President Nana Akufo-Addo when he hasn’t even finished forming his government.

“We, as leaders of the party, won’t allow such backwardness and distractions in the party,” Boadu noted.

He said the members of NEC considered this to be a distraction, stressing that the party’s rank and file were not happy about the current development, having expressed grave concerns on the issue.

He disclosed that some of the grassroot members were repulsive at the conduct of some leading members for their covert maneuverings, putting their presidential ambitions above the collective interest of the party.

According to John Boadu, what enraged many of the grassroot supporters were actions of some overzealous supporters of these flag bearer hopefuls who have started engaging in smear campaigns on various social media platforms.

He intimated that the party’s executive members needed to arrest the situation before it degenerated into fully blown acrimonious disagreements.

“The party is much bigger than the individual ambitions of its leading members. We have not even reached the stage where the party is considering guidelines or rules and regulations for the 2024 flag bearer contest, which is three years away per the party constitution,” he emphasised.

He pointed out that as things stand now, it is offensive for any party member with a presidential ambition to contest in the 2024 flag bearer race to make such ambition public.

By Ernest Kofi Adu