On the 23rd August 2022 edition of Good Evening Ghana, I was amazed at the level of pedestrian political analysis, disrespect, and the misinterpretation of the NPP Constitution by the MP for Abuakwa South Constituency Hon. Samuel Atta Akyea.
To be frank, over the course of this year Atta Akyea has made statements which seek to subvert the will of NPP delegates more than Hon Ekow Vincent Asafiua and Hopeson Adorye. And to the surprise of many, our astute General Secretary Justine Kodua, has turned a blind eye to the actions of Atta Kyea and rather looks for laws to intimidate perceived supporters of Alan Kyerematen.
In Hon. Atta Akyea’s wisdom, there should be no election of a flag bearer for the New Patriotic Party because he knows his preferred candidate Dr Bawumia does not stand any chance when pegged against Alan kyerematen the man ordained by God and the grass-root of the party. He claims that the NPP constitution says we should ‘select’ flag bearer but not elect, therefore the Vice President Dr Bawumia should be made an automatic successor to President Akufo Addo. That is unfortunately a wrong interpretation of the NPP Constitution by a lawyer. He has by this conduct disgraced the spirit and letter of the party’s constitution. And it’s sad because the NPP’s constitution has a clearly defined procedure for electing a flag bearer; something a lawyer of his caliber should know at his fingertips. Article (13)(a) talks about the election of the Presidential Candidate, not ‘selection’ as used by Lawyer Atta Akyea. Therefore his resolve that we should not have an election but rubber-stamp his preferred candidate Dr. Bawumia is a mark of a coward who is afraid of an election and is seeking every means to prevent his candidate’s imminent defeat.
He asserted that in his view, being a Vice President should merit automatic graduation to become a President. However, when asked as to why he did not hold the same ideology when he chose to support Akuffo Addo over Alhaji Aliu Mahama of blessed memory, he quickly hid behind grammar that he doesn’t want to do a postmortem, but we should not spend money to elect a flag bearer. Which means in this opinion, elections are not worth the cost and hence democracy is needless, perhaps an automatic succession plan should be devised instead of democratically electing a flag bearer. If Atta Akyea were not educated, this would have been understandable, but for a lawyer, this chameleon politics is unpardonable.
Hon. Atta Akyea seems to have a personal dislike for Alan Kyerematen, in that, he did not even have the courtesy to throw light on the things that make Alan exceptional to lead this country but simply thinks Alan should be made a running mate because of all the troubles he has gone through for the Party. One thing I would love to inform Hon Atta Akyea and his henchmen is that the reason why the majority of delegates support Alan Kyerematen is that he’s the best person with the keys to transform Ghana’s economy.
Our population is over 70% youth and most of our people need jobs. NPP members now want someone who has the footprint of creating jobs for the people with an industrial transformation agenda. So the choice of NPP grassroot is well informed by what Ghana needs, not a fake succession plan that exists only in the head of Atta Akyea.
Again, another wrong assertion made by Hon Atta Akyea is that if the Vice president Dr. Bawumia is made a Presidential candidate, then it shows that the NPP has a national appeal. This assertion, I am afraid, is an affront to Asanteman and other southern tribes whose people are part of the NPP. For it suggests, for example, that electing an Ashanti to lead the party would dent the appeal of the NPP as a national party. Such an insult should not be poured on especially Ashantis who voted massively for his brother Nana Akuffo-Addo to become the President of Ghana.
Hon Atta Akyea should know that, apart from the illegality of not conducting presidential primaries, the party should not disenfranchise the grass-roots many of whom are delegates; who will do the heavy lifting at the main elections. Because their participation in choosing who leads the party would enjoin them to actively campaign in making sure that person they elected becomes the President of Ghana. If a candidate is imposed on the grass-root, it will break their resolve, cripple their joy of participation in the campaign efforts to elect the candidate as President and the effect will be a humiliating defeat.
Atta Akyea, further argues that if we go into an election to elect a flag bearer he will be hated by the rest of the candidates. This does not hold water. After the 2007 election, Atta Akyea’s faction which won rather antagonized every individual who was not on their side. They sacked elected party executives at all levels for this reason and did the same to MPs and potential MPs, which made the party to lose a lot of seats in Parliament in the 2020 elections. Therefore claiming that election in itself will breed antagonism for the winner is quite infantile.
Lawyer Atta Akyea says the history of NPP should change. Change how? The grassroots of the party know whose turn it is to lead the party in the 2024 elections and that person is Alan Kyerematen .
He also claims that if the Vice President is not promoted to be the President, then it means we used him and dumped him. This will be the highest mark of ingratitude to the NPP if anyone says that. To start with, the Vice President was never a member of the NPP until he was chosen as a running mate. Even President Akuffo Addo himself who insisted on him as his running mate appealed to party leadership at the time that he was choosing Bawumia because he has no future ambition for the high office of President which is the only reason that calmed heads at the time, to do him such an honor.
It is therefore very unfortunate to turn around and say today that he has been used and dumped; a statement which could only seek to divide and not unite.
Since the new General Secretary Justine Kodua took office, we have seen him calling people to order and inviting others to face committees for making open declarations of support for presidential hopefuls. Hon. Atta Akyea has endorsed the Vice president on National TV, ‘mutilated’ the constitution of the party, and has made sensitive tribal comments which are very disingenuous to the unity of our party. To Kodua, we say our eyes are watching, your leadership is being tested and your response to these develop-ments will tell if you are indeed seeking to guard the sanctity of the Elephant party or you are only interested in haunting supporters of Alan. Will Justin Kodua be bold to defend the cause of freedom and of right? Let’s wait and see.
Long Live the NPP!!!
P. D. Orchill
pdorchill@gmail.com
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