An open letter to President J.A. Kufuor by an unnamed Member of Parliament (MP) of the ruling New Patriotic Party

Dear His Excellency,

As you count down the 75 weeks (525 days) you have before you hand over power on January 7, 2009, I believe a lot of issues are going through your mind. I intend to make this open letter to you, a monthly affair, that is I have about 17 more open letters to come.

I am sure your first concern is to ensure that you hand over power to the NPP's 2008 flagbearer. In the few times you and I have spoken about the post-Kufuor era, you have, in many words, expressed total displeasure about your government's inability to make your good works known to the general public. But His Excellency, have you noticed the relatively high turnover at the Ministry of Information (and now, plus Orientation)? Is it possible that the inability of your government to have a communications policy has contributed to this state of affairs? Has your government been able to give your Information Ministers the confidence that they need? If you were a Minister of Information and you heard of major governmental decisions in the print media, how would you feel?

His Excellency, a former Chairman of the NPP, Mr. S. Odoi Sykes, in an interview last week, admitted that one of the problems the NPP, as a party was facing, was the lack of cohesion in terms of planning between the government and the party. In sum, without the party, the government would not have assumed the reins of government. The allegations of the former Chairman of the Party, Mr. Harona Esseku vis-a-vis how the party was starved of funding may not have been proven. However, it is important to realise that there is no smoke without fire. Credible reports of activists feeling abandoned are true - certainly, that is the feeling of many activists in my constituency.

I am sure a number of readers will be wondering what I have done to uplift or assuage the feelings of such activists who feel abandoned. If I am to explain the efforts I have made, it would amount to washing the party’s dirty linen in public. The issue of activists feeling let down is something that cuts across many of the constituencies. There are times that such complaints are childishly reduced to the activists wanting money in their pockets. No, His Excellency, .. ."

Note: The Daily Dispatch says it intends to continue the letter on Wednesday: