Elders of the Party, Our Party is in crisis!

The party of J.B. Danquah, the party of Kofi Abrefa Busia and of S.D. Dombo, the party in whose embrace the ordinary Ghanaian, the poor, the disadvantaged and the disenfranchised sought relief and comfort is in deep crisis. This great party appears to have been hijacked by new considerations that are divorced from our core values and traditions and unless and until you, Elders of the Party, pull us back to our roots, our Party may implode.

I believe, as do most of our membership and sympathizers throughout the length and breadth of this country, that there is a disconnect within the party’s ranks and recent events should be a matter of grave concern to all.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), the offshoot of the Danquah / Busia / Dombo tradition appears to be losing its way. We are gradually parting ways with our history, our identity, ideology, tradition and vision; respect for seniority and the hierarchical order are fast eroding. Indiscipline, politics of exclusion and a culture of entitlement by association are fast taking hold. These new, negative considerations are shifting the party from its moorings.

Supremacy of the Party

The New Patriotic Party like any political party is a formally organized group that performs the functions of educating the public and its membership to an acceptance of its vision and ideology, recruits and promotes individuals for public office. The Party should be seen to be performing these functions with all seriousness. There is a history that resides in the current crop of party elders. That history needs to be told and taught to our membership for the sense of pride and belonging it can instill as well as the guidance it may afford them in their future political aspirations.

Ours is not just an opportunist or pragmatic party. It is not a party divorced from political doctrine or ideology concerned only with access to power. It is neither the product of just the past two decades nor is it the property of those who formed it. The core of this party predates the formation of NPP which thus places it squarely within a tradition that goes a long way back. It is imperative, therefore, that we clearly and urgently articulate our traditional ideology and vision and educate our membership so that their activities will be informed and guided by what the party stands for. It is also imperative that we affirm the supremacy of the party. The party transcends all. Personalities may bring individual strengths and attributes to the party. Notwithstanding that these strengths and attributes should be applauded, they must not, however, override the principles and philosophies that underwrite the party.

To eliminate personality and factionalism from the party, each and every individual interest, except, of course, the national interest, ought to be subsumed into the party interest. Members ought to be encouraged to respond to offers of empowerment and progression only through the authority of the party and not to personalities or cultural appeals. We belong to a grand ideological family of the Danquah / Busia / Dombo tradition, a tradition that transcends regional, ethnic, religious and social considerations and is intrinsic to what NPP is; it is what separates our party from all others.

Further, a party that ignores its history, its tradition and core values, a party that does not acknowledge the contributions of its heroes and stalwarts much less recognize and honour their efforts but blithely shunts them aside as ‘irrelevant old guards’, loses its way, its very soul. It is bound to fail in the long term.

Obviously members aspiring to the leadership should be informed by the party’s history, its inner workings, tradition and core values; they should be able to place party unity and cohesion above personal interests as well as have a demonstrable grasp of statesmanship. It is the submission of self to the rigours of party discipline and expectations that moulds leadership and eventually accretes credibility, recognition and political stature for selection at the national level. They must demonstrate party loyalty, stewardship and proof that they embrace the core values of the party. Members showing leadership qualities should be encouraged to take high office and this should not depend only on length of party membership or hierarchy. However, such a promising individual should know the party and what it stands for. There is the need to pay attention to our constitution and ensure that requirements are strictly adhered to.

We may well note in this regard that the Winston Churchills (Great Britain), the Konrad Adenauers (Germany) the Kennedys (United States) etc did not suddenly burst on their respective national political scene. Examination of their lives will trace a history of their political journey, of a culture of public service, their emersion in party political activities at the grassroot level and their gradual but carefully planned progression into the top echelons leading to a ‘natural’ emergence and selection on the national political landscape. The same might be said of our own Danquah, Busia and Dombo and the man Akufo-Addo now chosen to lead our party into the next elections.

Our party’s forebears, heroes and stalwarts whose names have passed into popular political culture: J.B. Danquah, W. Ofori-Attah, E. Akufo-Addo, Obetsebi Lamptey, K.A. Busia, S.D. Dombo, R.R. Amponsah, etc. are assured a place in party history and we should continue to celebrate them for their sense of honour and public service.

There are also the unsung stalwarts of that generation some of whom are still with us who quietly and at great personal cost put their intellect, wisdom and wealth of experience at the disposal of the party. They did so and continue to do so not because they wanted to use those contributions to vault themselves into leadership positions but because they believed in what the party stood for - that the party presented the best chance of securing the future progress of this country.

It is instructive to note that at the formation of the Progress Party in 1969 by like-minded friends and peers, it would have been unthinkable for any one among them to have challenged Busia’s leadership for he was recognized as such by virtue of his hard work, public service and contribution to the party’s cause. He emerged as the natural leader, acknowledged and accepted as such by all without question or rancour. His peers acknowledged their individual strengths and limitations and they worked purposefully together, in their different capacities, towards an identified common goal.

These men - B.K. Adama, Rev. Ametowoblah, R.R. Amponsah, Kofi Amponsah-Dadzie H.R. Annan, J.A. Annobil, Dr. R.M. Armatoe, A.E. Chinbuah, Jato Kaleo, Abeyifaa Karbo, Attoh Okine, Baafour Osei Yaw Akoto (Chief Linguist of Asantehene) R. A. Quarshie, Imoru Salifu, Alhaji Yakubu Tali (Tolon Na) and others while recognizing hierarchy even among peers utilised their different strengths in complementary fashion to attain the stature that would win them more responsibilities and more opportunities to serve. To these stalwarts who helped consolidate the party in those heady days, service was of extreme paramountcy to their very being. They and what they stood for constitute the collective soul of the New Patriotic Party. We should acknowledge their contributions to the party and drum their names on the roll of honour.

In acknowledging the contributions of these stalwarts we should take the opportunity to celebrate and salute the efforts of Mrs. Nancy Tsiboe, Madam Borquaye and the countless other women in past generations who worked tirelessly in various capacities behind the scenes in support of the party. They were the real foot soldiers. As the Party progresses, our women should offer themselves for higher office in the service of the nation and be chronicled for the recognition they so richly desire. Nothing is beyond the reach of our women, the acknowledged backbone of the nation.

The “Young Turks” within the party at the time – Victor Owusu, B.J. da Rocha, J.H. Mensah, S. Odoi-Sykes, Prof. F.T. Sai, Oheneba Ekow Richardson, Dr. Dsane Selby, J.A. Kufuor, Haruna Esseku, T.D. Brodie-Mends, A. Appiah-Menkah, Osei Baidoo, Carl Reindorf, Stephen Krekou, G.W. Amarteifio, Dr. Jones Ofori-Atta, K.G. Osei-Bonsu, to name but a few – accepted their place within the hierarchical order and exercised self-imposed restraint because they knew enough to acknowledge that there was much to be learnt from their respected seniors. Problems were quietly and amicably resolved within the party fold by respected wise heads.

These men submitted themselves and deferred to the authority of the party, seniority, discipline and experience even within the democratic environment they operated in and dutifully played their assigned roles in the interest of the party. There was party discipline and respect for seniority and hierarchy; they took their time to learn at the feet of the seniors. They served their apprenticeship well that is why they are such solid pillars of the party today.

Most of the Young Turks progressed on a long arduous journey that often found them cooling their heels in our country’s jails; but they pressed on emboldened by their faith in what the party stood for. Victor Owusu was party activist, Member of Parliament, Minister, Chairman of the Party and finally the presidential candidate of the party’s earlier manifestation, the Popular Front Party. Samuel Odoi-Sykes was student / party activist, Member of Parliament, leader of PFP Parliamentary Opposition and later the man under whose Chairmanship NPP came to power. So did Haruna Esseku, Member of Parliament, Minister and immediate past Chairman; J.H. Mensah, party activist, Member of Parliament, Minister, is now the venerable Senior Minister while John Agyekum Kufuor, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Busia regime of 1969 has risen to attain the ultimate political prize – the Presidency of the Republic in 2001.

Needless to say, ‘the old order changeth’ but, surely, the old order should change only to the extent that the old stalwarts pass on the baton to younger ones; the party’s core values and tradition, however, never change because they underwrite the ethos of this party. What is passed on, what should be passed on, is the deposit of party history, of values, of discipline and tradition.

During the party’s 27-year sojourn in the political wilderness, faithfuls around the country breathed easy in the knowledge that the party’s affairs were in the safe, capable hands of BJ da Rocha. If BJ (as he is affectionately known) was around, the party was alive. It was that simple. He lived the party! BJ da Rocha had been the General Secretary of both the Progress Party under K.A. Busia and the Popular Front Party under the Chairmanship of Victor Owusu. Now, assisted by Joseph Agyenim-Boateng, he kept the party alive and on course during the long difficult period of military adventurism. Steadfast and uncompromising, he brought his formidable intellect and organizational ability to bear and kept the party from disintegrating.

Party financing remained in the trusted and dependable hands of G.E.B. Awuku, who was the National Treasurer during the Progress Party and Popular Front Party years. During those 20 odd years, he continued to do what had to be done to keep the party afloat. In those difficult times he and venerables such as R.R. Amponsah sold personal properties not to advance personal agenda but to underwrite the party.

Again, there were the then relatively young men who at the height of the ‘culture of silence’ rallied around Prof. Adu Boahene, organized and took to the streets under the banner of ‘Kume Preko’ with no thought to their personal safety and ready to make the ultimate sacrifice. They are still here, quietly walking in the tradition that nurtured them. The actions of all these men were informed by the discipline that dictated that party affairs be placed above personal considerations, so they soldiered on in service to the cause.

Unfortunately, recent experience in the party indicates that there is a new breed of members who are either unwilling or have neither the appetite nor the patience to work their way up through the ranks because they are invidiously encouraged or empowered to bypass hierarchical structures. Even members barely a year in the party, with nary a clue to the values, structures, traditions and inner workings of the party they aspire to lead, want to be accorded top positions by virtue of association as if it is their natural preserve or a personal fiefdom. They are in too much of a hurry to afford themselves the grace of time to internalize the norms and mores of this great party so that they, in turn, would be role models and repositories for the next generation. It would appear their interests and their personal gratifications are immediate and paramount. But personal interests, by their very nature do not build a party nor leave a credible legacy. Indeed, they do not enrich but leave the party the poorer for it.

The present sense of loss of party direction should be seen for what it is: a function of the prevailing lack of discipline in our ranks, of members’ unwillingness to subject themselves to the rigours of the party mill as well as their overarching amibition, often fuelled by some elders, to be catapaulted into high office.

The New Patriotic Party has survived a bruising national congress and emerged triumphant with a great presidential candidate to lead us to the next elections and beyond. Let us use this golden opportunity to rededicate ourselves, educate our teeming membership on our party’s tradition and values of service to the nation, re-energize our party base with truth, candour and transparency, honesty and integrity. Let us go back to our roots, to what we stood for and continue to stand for as the New Patriotic Party.

We must, individually and collectively, care enough about the fortunes of the party to want to ensure that after we have done our bit and left the scene, the party would still be strong and united, committed to serving the interests not of a favoured few but of all Ghanaians, empowering all to aspire to the best that they could be for the progress and development of our dear nation.

These are thought-provoking comments which can be open to debate and a consensus reached as to the way forward.

H.E. DR. NYAHO NYAHO-TAMAKLOE BELGRADE, 11TH JUNE, 2008.