The charges against the current executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are not new. In 1998 both Kufuor and Akufo-Addo sponsored candidates for executive positions. Kufuor won a clear 80% or so majority. The so-called G15 of Victor Newman and others had Kwabena Agyepong for 1st Vice Chairman, he lost. Kakra Essumuah for General Secretary, he lost. Prof. Sai for Chairman, he lost. Esther Ofori for Treausrer, she lost.
Kufuor’s people included the victorious Odoi Sykes as Chairman, Ama Busia as 1st Vice Chairman, the late Amewode, the late Dugan for Treasurer. Only the late Inusah lost to the late Courage Quashigah as Organiser.
I was going through my archives and came across some interesting reports on the October 24, 1998 congress to elect the 2000 flagbearer for the New Patriotic Party. A survey was conducted on four of the candidates, which solicited the opinions of ten editors of independent newspapers, including Ben Ephson (Dispatch), Kweku Baako (Crusading Guide), Richard Afare (Public Agenda), Eben Quarcoo (Free Nation) and Kwesi Biney.
The score card had six attributes: Morality, Achievement, Resourcefulness, Personality, Eloquence, and Intellectual Depth.
According to a report on the survey by Kofi Coomson, publisher of the Chronicle, Nana Akufo-Addo scored first on the ratings of 80% of the respondents with a cumulative score of 454.5 out of a maximum 700, followed closely by Mr J.H Mensah, 436, Dr Kofi Apraku, 376, and Mr J A Kufuor, bottom of the heap with 358 points.”
When the final valid votes cast by the 1,984 delegates were counted at Sunyani, Kufuor came first with 1,296 votes, Nana was way behind in second with 628 votes, Apraku third with 52 votes and J.H last with 3 votes.
Recently, the Daily Dispatch has been publishing how important personal attributes are to winning elections. In 1998, Mr Ephson’s score cards had Akufo-Addo scoring the highest on personal attributes. He gave Nana the highest score on Morality (8 out of 10). His card even scored Nana higher on Personality (9). None of the other editors gave Nana or any other candidate 9 on Personality. Ben also scored Nana highest on Achievement, 9, and highest on Intellectual Depth, 9.
Kwesi Biney, a Kufuor sympathiser, who nevertheless gave Nana 47 points, J.H 48, Apraku 46 and Kufuor 40, said this wryly but truly, “Well, this will not affect the delegates.”
Kufuor went into the race with a rich record but poorer pockets, it seemed. He’d been in politics 30 years, twice a member of parliament and once a presidential candidate.
It was an open secret that most of the people elected in August 1998 as national officers were his men. In fact all but two could be said not to be Kufuor’s men.
Indeed, Kufuor was quoted as saying on the night of August 15, 1998 when the new officers were elected that his men had triumphed.
“If anybody has to rejoice and take credit for the outcome of the election, then it has to be J.A Kufuor. They were all my men. I am very happy,” Mr Kufuor said.
This attracted criticisms, not least from Chronicle columnist K.A Kwarteng in his regular feature Taflatse. He was unhappy to hear that Kufuor was jubilant.
“Kufuor is overlooking some important points he should not overlook. His reaction to the outcome of the election was wrong. And, within the same Elephant Family, his open reference to those who won as “These are my men” was also wrong… I am assuming all Krukudites have a common political destiny, and that, the only victory worthy of jubilation is the dislodging of the Umbrella from the Castle,” the columnist said in the Wednesday, September 12 - Thursday, September 13 edition.
Nana Akufo-Addo and the G15 group had supported a slate against Kufuor’s preferred candidates. Only Dr Kwaku Afriyie, 3rd Vice Chairman, and Courage Quashigah, National Organiser, got through.
Mr Kufuor supported the bid of Odoi Sykes as Chairman, who beat Nana’s candidate, Prof Sai. Dan Botwe was a Kufuor man then. Kufuor was stronger in the regions, Jake the Greater Accra Regional Chairman and Alhaji COP of the Northern Region were known Kufuor strategists and loyalists.
At that time, with delegates of about 2,000, enjoying the support of party executives was even more advantageous than today, with 115,000 people voting. But Mr Kufuor’s support base at the top was a reflection of his popularity at the grassroots, as well. Kufuor was by far the more popular candidate than his closest challenger, Nana.
As one report had it, “An analysis of the situation shows Kufuor as the more popular candidate but,” Nana is said to have responded in an interview that there appeared to be no reason why he “should accept reports from the rural areas that [Kufuor] is already well known and easier and cheaper to re-present and resell.”
As the favourite, the smear campaign then was more on Kufuor. Nana was spreading cash, Kufuor was falsely accused of even spending campaign money on himself until Boakye Agyarko came to his rescue with the facts about funds raised in the US.
While accepting his huge popularity, one report was adamant, “But other legitimate questions and considerations are increasingly gaining currency and will topple Kufuor from the perch. Questions that Kufuor may not be able to answer.”
The report continued, “For Nana, too, the baggage that will dog his campaign may appear not substantial to the educated but serious for the crucial rural voters. Nana is accused for literally speaking English too well (don’t laugh, it is true) and there is a strong perception of him as aristocratic, standoffish and elitist. Kufuor is the exact opposite in that respect. Which of the two men is particularly adapted to match the increasingly obvious choice of Mills begs for an urgent answer.”
It is strange how baggage grows in potency from a second favourite to once you become a run-away favourite!
In August 1996, when his detractors were wrongly and unfairly accusing him of abuse of campaign funds and other campaign expenditures, specifically on the acquisition of 55 motorbikes and 100 bicycles from Concordia for the 1996 campaign, Kufuor stayed focused. He knew he was two months away from another congress victory when he said he was convinced that with “proper, early and serious preparation, planning and strategies, as well as logistics in place, the NPP can win the elections in 2000.”
His message was simple but effective. No frills. “Give me the chance to face it once again. If you want to know how Ghanaians accepted Kufuor, just look at how they voted massively for him. We had three million votes – a huge number!”
Nana Akufo-Addo on his campaign tour today is making similar if not stronger points that he came very close with nearly four and a half million votes, falling less than 0.5% short.
Akufo-Addo’s other campaign message is that he championed the expansion of the Electoral College to include the over 105,000 polling station executives.
What he should also be saying is that he in fact championed the case for the establishment of the entire polling station executives concept for the 2000 elections to date.
It was his main campaign message then. The party had ward officers then. Nana’s motivation at the time was to make sure the NPP could stop the alleged rigging machinery of the ruling NDC in 2000.
On Wednesday, September 16, 1998, the Chronicle carried a banner headline ‘THE RENAISSANCE MAN – * The 20,000 polling booth plan *Financing the Party * Kufuor on shaky grounds?’ It was the day that Nana Akufo-Addo was launching his campaign at the Ebenezer Hall, Osu, and Chronicle was clearly backing Nana.
The story began that Nana was to “try and steal the thunder from the man believed to be the frontrunner in the race for the NPP presidential candidacy,” Kufuor.
Nana Akufo-Addo “emerged as the one man who has made grassroots organisation the cornerstone of his long term campaign strategy that was so eloquently articulated by one of the G15s victorious candidates, Dr. Kwaku Afriyie at last fortnight’s congress.”
Nana was modest enough to admit that it was an original idea of Dr. Safo Adu in 1992, which he picked up and breathed life into.
“All the 20,000 polling stations will be considered as a basic unit of the party’s organisation and they will have their own executives,” Nana said. Though he lost in 1998, the party used the plan for victory in 2000.
In a telephone interview with the Chronicle on Monday Sept 14, 1998, Nana described the polling station concept thus: “This is one sure way of getting out the votes, policing our votes and checking malpractices… We intend to put five to ten of our men at all the polling stations.”
The party was in debt. Nana was giving every constituency office 200,000 cedis and regional office 1m cedis. He promised to give every constituency 100,000 a month after victory. Newspapers focused on portraying Mr. Kufuor as broke.
According to one report at the time, “Nana’s financial help has been attacked by some Kufuor loyalists who interpret it as attempts to buy the party.” Nana denied the charge.
Akufo-Addo said the NPP, under his leadership, “would ensure that every eligible voter gets a photo ID card before election 2000.” This was also adopted by the party and finally by the EC.
He described himself as a peace-loving person but would not allow his fellow man to cheat him, adding, “weakness always brings aggression.”
He was seen as the person to attract the votes of the youth and floating voters. Days before the congress at Sekondi, the constituency youth organiser read a resolution by the Youth for Victory 2000, an organisation claiming 6,000 members from 12 constituencies, “pledging their unflinching support for Nana Akufo-Addo.”
In the end Kufuor won and won big and the party united behind him and he went on to win a famous victory in 2000 and 2004, becoming the party’s most successful leader.
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