NPP must offer amnesty to all suspended members

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo must extend a hand of reconciliation and give unconditional amnesty to all suspended Party members including elected officials who were recently suspended, Mr Kwame Pianim, an elder of the Party, has stated in Accra.

Mr Pianim also called on parties in the intra-party conflict to immediately smoke the peace pipe.

He said all sides in the Party must be prepared to tell themselves in the face that what we want is a political party and not unnecessary “bickering”.

“All the insults in the press, all the press statements, all the young cheer leaders must stop. Let’s all get together and work. We have a job to do, we are fighting an election. The Flag bearer should concentrate on selecting his campaign team,” he said.

Mr Pianim stated during an interaction with a cross-section of the media in Accra on the raging NPP’s internal wrangling, high state of suspicion, antagonism and personality attacks which has resulted in the death of two members, and scores of suspension including the party’s Chairman, General Secretary and the Second Vice Chairman.

He lamented: “Some of us have been watching the unfolding events with heartbroken and frustration…almost like a child watching your parents fighting virtually at point of divorce, yet you find it difficult to stop it.

“Am a very sad, heartbroken member of the NPP… we should not have gone this far…am therefore appealing to all to cease fire. The young people who have metamorphosis into cheer leaders of the factions must stop.

“The use of harsh words, keeping to an entrenched position must also cease; whilst all legal issues must also be withdrawn. Some of us were imprisoned by the PNDC by extension the NDC but now we still meet and talk to each; we reach out to our political opponents, why can’t we forgive each other in the same family and move forward.

“The best gift NPP can give the rank and file during this yuletide is a message and an extension of the olive branch to all suspended members to come back home, it is time for us to move together in unity, no blame game”.

Asked whether the suspended executives should be reinstated as part of his proposals for moving forward, Mr Piamin said he was not putting any such precondition on the table, rather he said, “let’s all sacrifice our pride for the good of Ghana, lets sacrifice our pride for the suffering masses of Ghana and get together to work in a campaign mood”.

Mr Pianim said the time for smoking a peace pipe was now and that would only happen if all sides in the party were able to tell themselves in the face that what we want is a political party and not unnecessary bickering.

Sounding Biblical he noted, “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?

This is what we all including Nana Akufo Addo should be doing….this is a party of Dr K. A. Busia who dialogued with apartheid government…we must create room to engage even our opponents.

On moving forward towards Election 2016, Mr Pianim suggested that the Party hierarchy must concentrate on forming its campaign team and “let’s all then put our weight behind the campaign team”.

“I am not saying the suspended Executives should resume their duties, I’m saying every officer who is elected, is elected! In an Election year all political activities hovers around the campaign team. We are giving these powers to the campaign manager selected by the Flag bearer to exercise all these powers until we finish the election and then people can go back to their elected positions”.

Mr Pianin said the Party should concentrate its energies on providing policy alternatives to the government in power. “What are we saying to the budget, what are we saying to the ‘dumsor’ crisis.

“What are we saying about global warming, what is Ghana’s response, what measures are government putting in place so that we can get some of the funds that are for mitigation, for new energy and so on and so forth.

“This is what should be pre-occupying us… instead of the in-fighting within the party, it is not relevant, faced with the problems that are facing us, the hungry people, the sick people who don’t have a place to go to hospital, these are more important”.

Mr Pianim said he was a “broken” man and “frustrated over the troubles” in the NPP which according to him, should be prepared to take over the affairs of state since in his view, the ruling NDC was showing it was incapable of solving the problems of the country.