Abolish all internal elections except flagbearer race – NPP MP proposes 6 reforms for party after 2024 defeat

The New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Akim Swedru, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, has proposed some reforms following the defeat suffered by his party in the 2024 general elections.

Having lost the presidential and parliamentary elections by a wide margin, Kennedy Osei has listed six key proposals largely centered on reorganising the structure of the party and the selection of the party’s leadership.

Among other things, he proposes that the party should abolish all forms of internal elections, leaving only the election of a flagbearer who will then appoint the remaining officials to assist his campaign.

“The above proposals, if implemented effectively, have the potential of eliminating or minimising the monetisation of our internal elections completely and also creating a sense of responsibility and belonging among all party members or sympathisers within the party. When every party member feels part of the running of the party, from the grassroots to the top, it makes the party organisation and running of grassroots campaigns more effective and efficient.

“It’s not about the expansion of the electoral college that will address the current problems with our internal electoral system and the monetisation of our elections. The most practicable way to deal with this is to do away with the delegate system completely and adopt the volunteer system, which allows everyone to be part of the processes,” he wrote.

Read the MP's proposed reforms below:

SOME REFORMS THE PARTY CAN CONSIDER GOING INTO THE FUTURE

1. What we have to do as a party in the near future is to run the national party as an organization by appointing or recruiting a top notch administrator to run the national secretariat with supporting staff.

2. ⁠We should abolish the delegate system and allow only registered card bearing members to elect the flagbearer after which the flagbearer will appoint his team at both the national and regional level to run his campaign.

3. ⁠Parliamentary elections will also go through same process as the flagbearer after which the PC will appoint his or her own team to run the constituency campaign.

4. The PC together with Constituency Campaign team must invite volunteers and mobilisers at every polling station or at the grassroots to lead the campaign at the polling stations with the supervision from the constituency team.

5. The constituency team will work hand in hand with the national and the regional teams that will be put together by the presidential candidate.

6. The only elections we should have internally as a party should be the selection of the flagbearer and the PC. We should do away with the national, regional and the polling station elections completely.

The above proposals if implemented effectively has the potential of eliminating or minimizing the monetization of our internal elections completely and also create sense of responsibility and belongingness among all party members or sympathizers within the party.

When every party member feels part of the running of the party from the grassroots to the top it makes the party organization and running of grassroots campaigns more effective and efficient.

It’s not about the expansion of the electoral college that will address the current problems with our internal electoral system and the monetization of our elections. The most practicable way to deal with this is to do away with the delegate system completely and adopt the volunteer system which allows everyone to be part of the processes.

GA/AE

Meanwhile, watch EC Chairperson's declaration of John Mahama as the winner of the 2024 presidential election below: