THERE HAS been a new dimension in the scramble within the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) for a presidential candidate for the 2008 elections, with a cross section of NPP party supporters indicating a preference for a candidate who has been a Member of Parliament or won an election before.
A number of party activists who spoke to this paper during the past week said as is done in advanced nations like the US and Britain, it is now time for the NPP to settle on a presidential candidate with proven track record of winning elections to make it easier for the party to retain power.
According to some, it is important to have a cursory overview of some characteristics of effective presidential leaders before a choice is made and that this would be done easily if the choice is made from persons who have gone through the grills of electoral processes.
“Before delving into the rubrics for assessing the leadership qualifications and qualities of the individuals who are running for the flagbearer of the NPP, the first criteria should be whether the person has won an election in his life before”, a potential delegate from the Akropong constituency in the Eastern Region told this paper over the weekend.
“This is the reason why Professor John Evans Atta Mills (the main opposition NDC flagbearer) will always find it difficult to ever win the presidential race in this country since he has not won any election in his life before”.
These sentiments were also expressed by party supporters in the Greater Accra, Eastern and Volta regions when we tried to find out from them what they (delegates) would be looking for in the selection of a flagbearer for the NPP in the party’s upcoming December Congress.
Many of them were of the view that aside serving as MP before, the winning presidential aspirant must also exhibit abilities which include effective communication style, organizational skill, a vision of public policy, political skill, and emotional intelligence.
They pointed out that because of the standard that has been set by President J. A. Kufuor as Head of State, the NPP must be forward looking and choose a well-balanced individual who possesses a wide variety of talents, abilities, and skills and that nations around the world are looking for such qualities to run their affairs.
“We need a Ghanaian President who would be capable of bringing honesty and a high code of ethics into government. Ghanaians deserve to have a President who would respect the democratic principles of the nation and the freedom of the people to move around freely anywhere in the country”.
The presidential candidates who should be taken more seriously should be those that put top priority on people’s vital needs, another maintained.
Most of the supporters also echoed the pronouncements of President Kufuor and Mr. J H Mensah at the party’s delegates’ conference in Koforidua in the Eastern Region in January as to the manner many people are clamouring for the Castle seat.
The President, at a post conference rally at the Koforidua Jackson Park to round off the NPP delegates’ conference, reflected on the qualities he expected from his successor, because he expects to hand over to an NPP government.
As far as the President was concerned, there were only about 10 candidates that would be in serious contention for the race, making reference to the past when there were about eight aspirants in queue.
According to the President, the choice was not about who was more knowledgeable or better resourced, rather, the search was for a leader who appreciated the party’s time-tested values and traditions, could hold the party together and has the humility to hold himself accountable to the party and the nation.
Mr. J.H. Mensah, a leading member of NPP also questioned the seriousness of some of his party members who were clamouring for the party’s presidential slot for the 2008 general election, saying that the demand for the presidency was not “a beauty contest” anybody could jump at.
“This is not a beauty contest”, Mr. Mensah declared, adding that anybody aspiring to be the NPP flagbearer should have won the confidence of a majority of not just party members but also the general public, as well as being capable of “running difficult, complex and demanding projects.”
Mr. Mensah said not only had the unprecedented number of presidential aspirants given the party a bad image, but that their attitude had also fuelled the perception that the flagbearership was something anybody could aspire to.
“Rather, the presidency should only be a preserve for honest, hardworking achievers and “not the chaos of 20 individual captains”, he added.
According to Mr. Mensah, the issue of presidential aspirants of the party “has threatened to get out of hand” and the party’s image has suffered damage.
He questioned: “What kind of a united team can the NPP present to the country when not only the 11 players on the field but also all the reserves on the benches want to be captain.”
The delegates, who spoke to this paper, though accepted that every member of the NPP was entitled to present himself/herself as a candidate, the provision should not be misconstrued to mean, “Anybody at all could present himself.”
“Ghana needs a disciplined team under outstanding leadership to give us top-grade governance, not the chaos of twenty individual captains”.
An executive member in the Ablekuma-South Constituency in the Greater Accra Region affirmed that the delegates would not gamble with the choice of their leader and bequeath to the party somebody without experience.
