Details on Pianim?s resignation from the NPP by GRi

Last Friday, 28th January 2000, Mr. Andrew Kwame Pianim, an economics consultant and a founding member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) resigned from the party.

Mr. Pianim, a former Chief Executive Officer of the Cocoa Board served time in prison in the hey days of the 31st December Revolution for allegedly plotting to overthrow theregime. In 1996, Mr. Pianim was in the race for the presidential slot of the NPP but he was disqualified by the Supreme Court for seeking the high office of presidency or any high profile political appointment because of his earlier conviction for treason. Based on that ruling Mr. Pianim resigned his executive position in the NPP although he remained a party stalwart.

Mr. Pianim has not hesitated to state his stand on national affairs and his views on the economic and social direction of the country are highly respected.

His resignation from the NPP in this election year and just when the NPP is gearing up for its electoral campaign has raised eyebrows in many quarters.

We (Ghana Review) bring you, unedited, a copy of resignation letter as well as the NPP?s response, also unedited.From: Andrew Kwame Pianim

To: Dan Botwe, General Secretary, NPP Dear Dan, As you are aware, in recent years, a major preoccupation of mine has been to put on the political agenda of this nation the urgent necessity for our country to initiate a process for reconciling this nation. I have also been very keen on the politics of alliance not merely as a strategy for broadening the NPP?s traditional electoral base, but as an important element in the quest for building bridges across perceived historical political divides thereby generating a fertile political environment for objective and consensus-enhancing engagement, especially on issues of national interest. There is a need for us as political parties to learn to co-operate to ensure the safety and stability of our nation before we compete on our policy alternatives for the privilege of leadership in improving the living standards of ourpeople.

In recent months, it has become increasingly clear that the relative environment of peace and absence of overt strife we find in this country, due largely to the average Ghanaian's love of peace and distaste for strife and conflict, may gradually be replaced by fratricidal strife and conflict. We need to pre-empt this looming potential disaster. We need to create political space to encourage and reinforce initiatives for consensus building and for establishing genuine peace based on justice and fair play. We need to create an environment within which serious consideration can be given to the formation of a government of national unity as a transitional healing process, and a more viable forum for resolving the impending national economic and social crises. It is important that the message of the urgent need to initiate a process for reconciling this nation does not go unheeded because of the distorting lens of partisan politics through which pronouncements on national affairs tend tobe viewed. Our country is at a very critical stage in its political and economic development.

The least political recklessness or miscalculation may push our dear nation into the fratricidal strife and needless conflict, which has been the lot of other less fortunate African countries. We should not deny the people the hope for a political alternative for a change for the better. Otherwise they will be pushed into the desperate delusion that the solution to the usual politics of propaganda, exclusion, divide- and-rule, arrogance, conspicuous consumption, conflict mongering, impoverishment of the people, and corruption, lies in the magic wand of yet another self-proclaimed "saviour". If the suffering in Africa has any lessons to teach us, it is that all those who come promising liberation and prosperity for the nation, end up with prosperity for themselves and their henchmen, and the freedom to lord it over us.

We need to convince the nation that there is no sustainable alternative to the daily struggle within a constitutional framework to ensure that the right of the people to decide periodically who governs them is protected with our very lives. This is the essence ofconstitutional rule. It is in order to get this message across, and contribute, in my small way, to ensuring that our nation becomes a genuine haven of justice and prosperity for all irrespective of gender, religious, ethnic or political affiliation, that I have decided to resign my membership of the NPP.

I shall continue to fight for the nationalinterest, the well being of the average Ghanaian, and help define the type of society in which we as Ghanaians want to live. I wish the party well. Do convey to our colleagues and supporters my gratitude for the opportunity given me within the NPP to contribute at a very high level to our nation's new attempt at constitutional rule under the Fourth Republican Constitution.

Faithfully yours, Kwame Pianim

NPP?s Response: Mr. Kwame Pianim's Resignation from NPP The NPP has received with regret the resignation of Mr. Kwame Pianim, a Founding Member of the Party. The Party, whose historic mission has been the establishment of democracy and respect for human rights and the rule of law in our country, can, unfortunately, now no longer count on his contribution to this effort.We wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

Signed:Dan Botwe General Secretary