...for election 2012 comeback

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor and the 2008 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Akufo-Addo, have been holding a series of strategic meetings on the way forward for the Party.

Since the President returned from Europe last week, The Statesman can report that there have been, at least, two such long meetings at the residence of the former President.

Top on the agenda is how to keep the party united in opposition, strengthen its structures across the country and sharpen its arsenal to win back power in 2012.

The two men are said to have discussed, among other issues, how to avoid the kind of unhealthy fierce competition that bedevilled the party's primaries in 2007 and 2008.

The meetings, the first of which took place last Thursday night, have involved other leading members of the party and close associates of the two leading members of the opposition party.

Sources close to the two men say they are determined to make the party stronger together and that nothing should get in the way of that all-important agenda of regaining power.

"The two men are fully aware of their crucial roles in working together to win back power and they are determined not to disappoint. They will show responsible leadership” one source close to Mr Kufuor told The Statesman yesterday.

Another source close to the 2008 flagbearer said, “Nana has a lot of respect for the experience, achievement and importance of Kufuor, especially in shaping the destiny of the NPP and thankfully the two men agree on one thing: the party must win.

A top businessman who was at one of the meetings told The Statesman, “We are in good shape. The two men are very sincere about the task ahead and what they need to do together.

Another source said, Nana Akufo-Addo has been very appreciative of the support that the then President Kufuor gave to the former Foreign Minister"s failed first attempt at the Presidency last year.

The two men have had sincere and no-holds-barred discussions on some of the shortcomings of the 2008 campaign and are “very satisfied” of their respective roles and those of the rank and file in what was the closest ballot results in this country's history. Their focus now is on how to tighten loose ends for total victory in 2012.

Both men have also been holding separate meetings with various caucuses of the party and comparing notes with each other afterwards.

Mr Kufuor Monday met a group non-descriptively called Immediate Past Ministers, which is in fact a forum of all former NPP Ministers. That meeting also discussed the party's future programme and how to stick together and beat back the 'harassment’ being meted to certain NPP functionaries.

Before travelling to Switzerland, Mr Kufuor met the Minority Caucus, too. Also, at that meeting the unity issue was top on the agenda The two-term President of the Republic told MPs that the party leadership should be collectively looking at finding, where possible, consensus candidates for the various executive positions of the party to be contested for this year.

He also spoke for a way to avoid an offensive number of presidential aspirants when the flagbearership contest opens in 2010. 17 people contested in December 2007. The number is not likely to exceed four in the next congress, party pundits predict.

On the healthy meetings between Messrs Kufuor and Akufo-Addo, the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, when contacted for his opinion, described it as “natural and positive.”

The two men, Asare Gabby Otchere-Darko said, are experienced enough to be “fully conscious of their responsibilities to the fate of the tradition.

He said, the two men worked “extremely hard” for the 2008 NPP campaign, “which was arguably the best campaign ever mounted in this country.

Except of course a campaign’s success is ultimately determined by the end results. I think several people who ought to have known better in the NPP have been most unfair to the Kufuors, Mac Manus and Akufo-Addos for their respective roles in the campaign.” He said, from very close quarters he saw how hard the three men and others in the campaign worked towards winning what was a very difficult third term.

“Thankfully, tempers have calmed; the wild allegations about certain people not working hard enough or even not wanting an Akufo-Addo victory are all being discarded for their ludicrousness.  The future of the party is looking remarkably brighter even in these early days of opposition. That is most positive and must be proactively nurtured, guided and guarded.”

With unity and hard work, very little can get in the way of a 2012 victory, Gabby predicted.

He also called for people around the two men to avoid comments “which can fabricate a wedge and deepen that artificial wedge between two innocent parties, allowing the common enemy to slip through.”