A Founding member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, believes the opposition party was complicit in its own defeat in the just gone-by General Elections and thus wants the party to "lick" its wounds, "circumscribe the legal effort and let sleeping dogs lie and prepare" for "a better performance in 2016 and beyond.”
Casting doubts on the party’s chances of reversing the 2012 election verdict at the law courts, Dr Wereko-Brobby said the NPP will just be throwing dust into the eyes of its supporters if they keep on harping about the likely positive outcome of its intended court case.
He was of the firm belief that had the NPP channeled as much energy into protecting the ballot box as the party appears to be doing with the compilation of voting irregularities across the country, the results declared by the Electoral Commission (EC) would have been different.
"If the party had been vigilant, I have no doubt that we would have won," he added.
Known in political circles as ‘Tarzan’, the former Chief Executive of the Volta River Authority (VRA), minced no words in telling Kwami Sefa Kayi, host of Peace FM’s morning show ‘Kokrokoo’ that the NPP put up an abominable performance in its monitoring and policing of ballot day events, especially the counting of the votes.
He accused the NPP of being overly confident of its chances and completely ignoring and writing off all of the “manipulative machinations” of the EC in the run-up to the elections, especially the EC’s “damning failures” on the verification of the electoral register.
According to him, Ghanaians wanted and voted for an NPP administration but were let down following the failure to secure victory through effective policing of the count.
To him, the failure is unpardonable and no amount of post-facto noise and bravado will atone for the cardinal sins of the NPP leadership.
“This is a difficult time; people are going to celebrate Christmas and up till now, they still don’t know the fate...As for me, I doubt if this court case will amount to anything. We should stop giving false hopes because if we had any substantial evidence, we would have publicized it... We should not do anything that will tarnish the image of the country…let’s not rouse people’s expectation or anger. We need to think ahead and work hard towards 2016…” he said.
However, another NPP stalwart sharply disagreed.
Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, former Press Secretary to former President John Agyekum Kufuor, speaking on the same platform, said the former VRA Chief Executive jumped the gun.
He opined that even if Dr. Wereko-Brobby had issues with the action taken by the party, he (Wereko-Brobby) should have waited for the outcome of the investigations and the court action before making ‘such a comment’.
“…you cannot just get up and say that we should let it go, we would be setting a bad precedent...we are not only just fighting for one person or the NPP to be declared the winner, but we are also seeking to have reforms in our electoral system...Even if it is going to take us our last sweat or last pint of blood, we have to make sure the right thing is done. And so I am very surprised that Wereko-Brobby would make a statement that the party did not do its work well; someone who profess to be a member of our party?...he rushed in making such a comment…all we need is for the right thing to be done," Kwabena Agyapong said.