Arthur K Blames NPP Defeat On Extravagance

Accra — Dr. Arthur Kennedy, former Director of Communication of Nana Addo's campaign team, has attributed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) defeat in the 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections to the splashing of money by the presidential aspirants at rallies during the primaries.

In addition, he said the abuse of the processes in the most recent parliamentary primaries demoralized the people and resulted in the down all of the party.

In an interview with The Mail he debunked the rumor that the high number of aspirants who contested, caused the NPP to lose the 2008 general election.

Dr. Kennedy said, "The party obviously has mechanisms to restrict the number of parliamentary candidates but the mechanisms were abused by constituency, regional and national executives before the elections."

He revealed that there is a committee investigating why the New Patriotic Party lost the elections.

The NPP called for proposals from party members to review the party's constitution as part of its self-assessment programme following its defeat in the 2008 elections. The deadline for the proposals is over and 66 documents are up for consideration.

According to Arthur Kennedy, the submission of the proposals is consistent with Article 19 of the party's constitution which mandates persons who wish to seek reviews in its laws to file their convictions, at least, two months to the party's national congress.

Some of the proposals that he said were sent to the party executives include limiting the number of people who end up at congress as contestants.

When asked about his view on the proposal, he said "I don't think it is a bad idea to make a proposal to restrict the number of people who can contest for the presidential candidacy of the NPP. It rather has to do with how it is implemented in an impartial manner".

Dr. Kennedy said he was of the same opinion with some members of the Party who proposed that the number of the presidential aspirants should be reduced to five. He however thinks it should be done in good faith and with a clear conscience.

He said some of the aspirants tried to work out alliances but were constrained by time.

He said in order to restrict persons who want to contest as presidential aspirants, there must be criteria that will take into consideration experience, geographical balance, democratic growth and "standard" of persons.

Expressing optimism, Dr. Kennedy said it is possible for the NPP to come back to power after the first four-year term of the NDC but cautioned that it is not automatic. "It is very likely for the party to come to power in the next 4years only if the members do not sit down absentmindedly waiting for the next election before they will act", he said.