Paul Afoko, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who is vying for the chairmanship position of the party, says the time has come for the party to tell its true story and debunk wrong tales.
“We have allowed people to brand our party in a way that is not attractive to many Ghanaians in and outside this country and yet we have allowed this wrong information to stay. They say we are elite and an Akan party and we do not care about the suffering masses and the youth at the grassroots. These are what our main opponents say about us just to win elections and increase their support base; what have we said or done to tell the suffering masses and Ghanaians, in general, the truth about the NPP,” he noted.
According to Paul Afoko, the NPP is more pro-poor than the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and cares for the suffering masses.
“These are people who have hidden their negative side and have made it a point to run the NPP down at all cost. If we were not pro-poor, will President Kufuor ensure the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme, School Feeding, Capitation grant for basic school pupils and even the Metro Mass Transport System and Mass Cocoa spraying?
“There are many initiatives by the NPP, which were deliberately meant to lessen the hardship of Ghanaians. People remember all these good things, but we have allowed other people to tell a wrong story about us while we keep our good records to ourselves,” Mr. Afoko noted.
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE in Bolgatanga, Mr. Afoko reiterated his resolve to contest for the chairmanship position of the party in order to secure the mandate of the national delegates of the party to spearhead the New Plan for Power in 2016.
“I want to be a chairman to lead the rebranding, unification process and struggle to win the 2016 general elections. This is my plan for the NPP,” he said.
According to Mr. Afoko, he would tour the Upper East region and other places to inform delegates and party elders of his desire to chair the party.
He said the trip to the region had yielded positive results, stressing that people spoke frankly about factors that affected the fortunes of the party in the region.
“This is why I have been talking about the rebranding the party. We are a pro-poor party, our forebearers associated with the ordinary people and that is why they did what will lessen the suffering of the masses, and this is what the NPP also did when it was in power.” Mr. Afoko noted. Explaining further, Paul Afoko said he would effectively lead the party ahead of the 2016 general elections.
He said he would reach out to all interest groups in the party to recapture power from the NDC.
“NPP believes in internal democracy and so positions are fiercely contested and after that it is normal and natural for all interest groups to unite and support the flagbearer or executive members to push the party to victory in elections. Even though I did not support Nana Akufo-Addo during the campaign for flagbearership, I followed him everywhere and contributed my expected due. I did all this because I believe in internal democracy and the need to support the candidate the party delegates have selected for presidential election,” he explained.
The NPP can recapture power in Ghana if members unite and remain loyal to the party and also get leaders that understand the current trend of politics, he stated.
He called for impressive rebranding to make the party attractive.
