Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) General Secretary, Dan Kwaku Botwe yesterday stormed the Asylum Down headquarters of the party to submit his resignation letter as Chairman of the Research and Strategy Committee. Mr. Botwe, who returned from a Western Regional tour recently, said he was quitting his position to concentrate on his campaign to lead the party to victory in 2008.

“I wish to inform you of my decision to resign as Chairman of Research and Strategy Committee. “As you may be informally aware, I have started the process of meeting constituency officials throughout the country and have been discussing with them my intention to contest the flagbearership position of the party later this year”, he wrote in the letter submitted to NPP National Chairman, Peter Mac Manu.

The former Information Minister, popularly called “General”, indicated that his decision would allow him to avoid a conflict of interest situation, since the party’s Research and Strategy Committee chairman is an automatic member of the Vetting Committee as contained in Article 9(c)5(d) of the NPP constitution.

This development is expected to trigger the resignation of many ministers, as the stage is now set for a no-holds-barred contest as regards the flagbearership race of the NPP.

Mr. Botwe was General Secretary for eight years in which he led the NPP to victory, earning the title, “General”. He was later appointed Minister of Information at the inception of the Second term of the Kufuor administration. However he was relieved of his ministerial appointment in a cabinet reshuffle last year. The party subsequently appointed him chairman of the Research and Strategy Committee.