NPP needs new leadership -NPP Guru

A former Brong Ahafo Regional Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Yaw Addai Owusu has suggested a new crop of leadership for the party to enhance the chances of NPP to retain power in the 2008 general elections.

Mr. Addai Owusu, who is eyeing the Brong Ahafo chairmanship of the NPP, observed that if the party wanted to win more seats in Parliament and retain the seat of Presidency, there was the need for it to get leaders that could unite the party and not leaders whose focus was on divide and rule tactics.

According to him, the current leadership had led to the collapse of the party?s structures, particularly in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Mr. Addai Owusu, commenting on the party?s 13 years since formation, noted that the NPP, after the 2000 general elections, had experienced total neglect in its organization, with structures left in total confusion.

The Aspiring regional Chairman was of the view that it was not a surprise that the NPP in the region was not able to perform well, as compared to its main archrival, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He recalled that the NPP in the 2004 elections, only maintained its 14 seat it won in 2000, giving an opportunity to the NDC to snatch three seats from them, thus increasing the NDC?s seats to ten.

Mr. Addai Owusu, who was the regional Secretary to the party that performed marvelously in the 2000 general elections, said the inability of the NPP to do well in the region in 2004 was due to the failure to implement some basic and fundamental policies that could have won the party more seats at least 18 in the region.

He said, ?A lot have gone wrong and it would be the height of hypocrisy, if measures are not taken to correct such mistakes.?

According to the former secretary, in the current age of scientific politics, with modern trends of political activities being pursued, strategies, tactics, and political information gathering were the key requisite and attributes of a good leader and not divide-and-rule tactics.

Referring to a statement by President Kufour in his acceptance speech, after the party had won the 2004 elections, the president dwelt extensively on the qualities of good leadership.

The President, he said, emphasized on the need for politicians to acquire the core aspects that make someone a leader, such as creativity, humility, submissiveness, honesty, truthfulness, boldness and vision.

According to Mr. Addai Owusu, the leadership of the NPP in the region does not possess these qualities enumerated by the President and this, he said, had led the party to attract less number supporters in the region.