Opinion
On 12th of November, 2015, the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) adopted Freddie W. Blay (aka Opana), a three-time member of parliament for the Elembele Constituency, a former Deputy Speaker of Parliament, the Chairman of Western Publication, publishers of Daily Guide as its Acting National Chairman over and against the constitutionally elected National Chairman, Paul Awentami Afoko.
In their singular quest to control party resources, the odd seventy old men failed to consider the wisdom in Afoko’s ‘New Plan for Power’ map laid before them, the Map that had committed some GH? 75,000.00 into a nationwide research for the party; the plan that has billed Hon Ayikoi Otu to lead a team of academics to train party officers countrywide on their duties, responsibilities and the party’s constitution.
The New Plan for Power that was going to receive, review and re-strategize quarterly as per the regional reports that would be brought to National Council Meetings. National Council meetings were not going to be limited to Accra according to the New Plan for Power scheme; the meetings were going to be rotating from region to region.
If not for wizardry, why would anyone suggest that a man who is profusely committing his personal resources into building a strong and formidable party be suspended for a man who is depending on the party’s purse to cater for his medical bills? If not Afoko, which national Chairman has on his own, bought a single car for the party since 1992?
Many have argued that his allegiance is more to the CPP than it is to NPP, that he is an agent of the Rawlings led NDC intelligence unit. I cannot confirm the veracity of these assertions but one thing that I know is that most of Blay’s funding and stupendous wealth emanates primarily from the ruling government.
Yet it is not his connection with the NDC that gives me cause for concern. Rather it is his role in the suspension scheme and what he (Blay) brings on board.
The truth is that appointing him as our Acting National Chairman is like running a party without Chairman. Kudos must go to the few elders in the NPP, a number of Constituency Chairmen and a number of key individuals in the NPP for taking a courageous and noble stand by rejecting and resisting the imposition of this abominable monstrosity.
What Freddie Blay stands for and represents is utterly repugnant to every fibre of my being. Yet I have no objection to his being a member of the NPP simply because politics is a game of numbers. It is a game in which everyone, no matter how big or small, counts. If you want your party to grow and make progress you must accept the good, the bad and the ugly.
To this end when he left the CPP and joined the NPP sometime back, I was one of those that gladly welcomed him into our ranks and defended him in the public realm. This was at a time when others criticized the party for accepting him. There is however a world of difference between accepting him as one of the many leaders of the NPP and appointing him as the Acting National Chairman.
Others may seek to justify such a course of action but I cannot, in good conscience, do so. To me it is a matter of principle. If we accept this then on what moral grounds did we condemn the NDC for their Sweduro declaration? If we are comfortable with the likes of Freddie W. Blay leading us then on what basis did we criticize and oppose President Rawlings for imposing on the NDC, J.E.A. Mills?
If we insist on Freddie Blay being our Acting National Chairman then we may as well go and apologize to the NDC for all our past criticisms and condemnations and join them. On what basis can we accept as our Acting National Chairman a man, who established, encouraged, supported and nurtured an organization that devoted eighteen months to destroy the character and reputation of his boss?
On what basis can we accept as our Acting National Chairman a man who helped to create an organization that wishes to establish one party state as the norm in our country, repeal all our criminal and civil laws, ban all our civil liberties and human rights, proscribe the teaching of civilization in our constituencies, turn our women into sex slaves and abrogate the secularity of our party.
On what basis can we accept as our leader a man who supported a group that wishes to suspend our constitution, wipe out the Rule of Law in our Party? I really do wonder whether those that made this decision have lost all sense of rationality.
I wonder whether they have lost their ability to see reason properly and to exercise their discretion in a logical, responsible and lucid manner. I wonder whether they have lost their fear of God. I wonder whether they have forgotten the evil that was visited on our party, and is still being visited on our people, over the last two years by the Daily Guide newspaper.
I wonder whether they have forgotten the tears, wailing and suffering of opposition. I wonder whether they have forgotten the slaughter of the innocents. I wonder whether they have forgotten the savage and economic rape, diversion of party funds. I wonder whether they have forgotten that our party is still at war with the bloodthirsty barbarians that committed these atrocities.
Since when did we, as a political party, lose our memories and jettison our moral and ideological compass in this way? Since when did we become so callous, shameless and insensitive? Since when did greed and the lust for power and money determine and motivate our every course of action? Since when did we throw away caution, decency and principle? Since when did we become so barbarous and uncivilized? Since when did so few make a decision that will affect the lives and fortunes of so many in a profoundly negative way?
Have we forgotten those gallant supporters that died whilst fighting this evil plague, all in their quest to keep us safe, to secure our borders and to protect our constitution and officers? Does all that count for nothing? Is this the way to pay them back for their great sacrifice and their noble courage? Are we prepared to throw away all decency and morality just to seek favour with a handful of misguided mortals and in a futile attempt to win political power? Simply put, has the leadership of the NPP gone completely mad or are they working for elements outside the NPP?
Are they suggesting that you need Nzema gods to run the affairs of the party before we can ever win power at the centre again? Where is the patience and fortitude that is required from true leaders? Where is their faith in God? Where is their sincerity of purpose? Does the leadership of the NPP really believe that it has kept faith with the founding fathers of the party, those that trusted them with power and those that bestowed them with leadership?
There were so many other people that they could have chosen to lead our party from the West; those that are committed with impeccable records of party service, high moral standing and good character.
Instead of doing so the leadership of the party chose to impose the most controversial, morally-depraved and despicable character that they possibly could, to lead us and when asked why they did so we were told that it was because” he has a new paper to do the dirty job for the party going into election 2016. Evidently, we have sold our birthright and heritage, not just for a mess of pottage like Blay, but rather for a free newspaper publication.
This is what a party that was once led by successive groups of seasoned and formidable intellectuals and great men of power, vision, courage and good character has been reduced to. What a pity! What a monumental tragedy!
This is a party that once boasted of having in its ranks many promising and dynamic bright young stars that were collectively capable of shaking the very foundation of the civilized world and creating new frontiers and greater hope for the future of our people and our beleaguered country. How are the mighty fallen. What on earth has happened to us? As the Book of Galatians 3:1 in the Holy Bible asks, “Who has bewitched us”? Over the course of the last 8 years, in terms of the quality of party leadership, the NPP has gradually descended into the unceremonious cesspit of mediocrity.
Worst still, with the recent appointment of Freddie Blay as our National Chairman, we have chosen to spit in the wind, sleep with the dogs, dance on the graves of our fallen heroes, piss on the blood and bones of the slaughtered innocents and wallow in the filthy pool of compromise, deceit, doublespeak and shame. As a consequence of this calamitous decision, we have literally overnight; become a shell, nay a shadow, of what we used to be. Unfolding events will prove my assertion true.
I have no doubt that time will eventually prove me right and vindicate me. The bitter truth is that this arrangement is an affront against the Living God and it cannot stand. Yet, if it does stand the party will pay a heavy price for it because it will inevitably lead to the end of the NPP as we know it. Imposing Freddie Blay is an insult to all those that have fought for, led, served, defended, supported and risked everything for the party, at every level, over the last 23 years. Only the deeply malevolent can be comfortable with such an arrangement. It is evil. It is godless. It is indefensible.
It is shameful and as long as it stands the NPP does not have the moral standing or authority to criticize or condemn others. Those that made this decision behind closed doors and without proper or wide consultations have murdered sleep. They have not only betrayed the confidence that the rest of us bestowed upon them but they have also prepared the coffin for our great party and dug its grave. It is a tragedy of monumental proportions and I have little doubt that God will judge them for what they have done.
Freddie Blay’s long-term plan to hijack the leadership of the party for as long as possible to remain as National Chairman indefinitely will fail because it does not have the blessing of God; time will prove me right.
