NPP must uphold Supreme Court verdict to build a stronger grassroot base

Dear NPP Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee and fellow patriots,

Following our failure to finalise and implement key identified areas for reforms after the 2021 Party Extraordinary Delegates Conference in Kumasi, the party has suffered its highest defeat ever in its history, with no single MP in six of the 16 regions of Ghana. This is evidence that the party has lost its core support base significantly since its inception in 1992.

I reiterate that I wrote a proposal for the expansion of the party’s electoral college in 2021, among which the committee, led by the current Minority Leader, Hon. Afenyo-Markin, selected three key priority areas out of the 93 reform areas aimed at building a stronger party base.

It is therefore a great delight to once again call on the Constitutional Review Committee of the party to take a critical look at the Supreme Court’s verdict on political parties’ delegate system reforms and swiftly work to implement it in the best possible way to help change the dwindling fortunes of the party under its current electoral system.

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The party has lost its following in most parts of the country, even in some stronghold areas such as Yendi and parts of the Bono, Eastern, Western, and Central regions, among others. It is evident that the legislature of our modern-day democracy is what builds a stronger government.

The current delegate system of the NPP has lost the core of its strength at the grassroots level, which selects effective party men and women to steer the affairs of the party.

The issue of monetisation has dominated the party and, in most circumstances, has led to the election of incompetent, disrespectful, and arrogant people into party executive positions. The idea of the NPP rewarding hardworking and astute members in good standing in the past has been thrown to the dogs.

The emergence of a disease known as the “CERTAIN CABAL” in our party has deeply affected the party and has totally weakened our grassroots base. Targeting, undermining, sidelining, and removing people arbitrarily, in some circumstances, have greatly affected our party’s following. This disease was not known in our party in the past.

The removal of the names of some delegates from the electoral college without due process during the building of party electoral colleges has also caused problems in many areas.

Strong cabals are reportedly building albums in people’s homes, offices, and unknown locations for their own interests, and this has led to great anger among many party supporters at the grassroots level.

The current system has paved the way for less-resourceful but strategic and service-oriented aspiring leaders to no longer be able to hold party executive positions due to monetocracy, which has become the bane of the party and has affected our party’s intellectualism in its greatest forms and aspects.

It is against this backdrop, among other concerns, that I humbly write to the Constitutional and Legal Reforms Committee and the leader of the party, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, to look into the issues raised and work to reform the current delegate system through the collation of frameworks, appropriate procedures, literature reviews, benchmarks, modalities, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

These reforms will help build a solid party constitution that can reinvigorate the party system towards victory in 2028 and beyond.

The grassroots base of the party is absolutely at its weakest state since 1992.

For instance, expanding the electoral college and delegates system will yield positive results from the polling station, electoral area executive, constituency executive, regional, and national levels.

This will help reduce, if not eliminate, monetisation within the party and cure the disease of the “CERTAIN CABAL”, which reportedly results in the sidelining, elimination, targeting, and arbitrary removal of party members without following due internal party procedures in some circumstances.

This will become a thing of the past and set a new dawn for a successful take-off, as it will give greater power to the grassroots.

Therefore, the party leadership and functional committees should sit up and work to salvage the dwindling fortunes of the party ahead of the 2028 elections.

Lastly, the party should host an NPP Genuine National Forgiveness Day in honour of our past and present leaders.

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