*General Secretary position in danger
*Mac Manu, Dan Botwe fingered as da Rocha throws caution

The National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Peter Mac-Manu and two-term former General Secretary Dan Botwe have been fingered as the brains behind a subtle power struggle in the ruling party about making the National Chairman an Executive Chairman.

The ongoing debate on the position of Executive Chairmanship, led by the two, is that it would provide for more hands-on executive powers to run the party, a suggestion that has received the indignation of some leading party members, including former National Chairman, Mr B. J. da Rocha, this paper can reveal.

In an interview with this paper at his Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) office in Accra Monday, Mr da Rocha described the move as an unnecessary debate with the potential to destabilize and weaken the party.

He said it would be nonsense and crazy for someone within the party to think of amending the party’s constitution to scrap the General ‘Secretaryship’ and make the National Chairman an Executive Chairman with combined powers.

The former National Chairman further pointed out that the present Constitution has been amended once, questioning the motive behind the call to amend it again.

He suggested that the NPP Constitution is not a hastily contrived and drawn up document and that any attempt to amend it must be carefully considered.

Currently, there are some sections of the NPP leadership and members who think that the Chairman and General Secretary positions are not clearly defined in the sense that the latter seems to have very little to do apart from being the party’s face out there in the public domain.

The argument for change is that at the regional and constitutional levels, the chairpersons have executive powers. But, the situation is not that clear cut with the National Chairman.

A member of the party’s Legal and Constitutional Committee hinted this paper that although they are ready to receive and evaluate any proposal for amendments, he feels that there is no need to change the Constitution since there is no ambiguity in the roles of the two positions.

He said the Constitution clearly spells out the role of the National Chairman and the General Secretary.

He noted that the Chairman is mandated to convene the National Executive Council, among others meetings, and is in charge of staffing and remuneration, including that of the General Secretary.

For him, the fact that there is mention of an executive chairman at the regional level does not necessary call for same position at the national level.

The last time the party made any amendments to its constitution was at its National Delegates’ Congress in Cape Coast, leading to the 2004 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Though Mr Botwe could not be reached by press time yesterday, the party’s Chairman Mr Mac-Manu told this paper in an interview that although he was aware of speculations on the issue, the matter was yet to be tabled before the Council of Elders for consideration.

He, however, could not confirm or deny the allegation that he is spearheading the move to create a position of a national executive chairman in the NPP.

He took the opportunity to explain to the Gye Nyame Concord the reason why the party’s national delegate’s congress was postponed to January 5 - 6 of 2007.

He said the party took that decision to ensure that the needs of the delegates are catered in terms of accommodation and other logistics as is stipulated in the party’s constitution.

“The postponement has nothing to do with the National Democratic Congress (NDC)”, he assured; adding that they didn’t also want the situation whereby the media’s attention would be divided between the main political parties in the country.