On Saturday August 7, 2010, the New Patriotic Party made the dual history of not only overwhelmingly electing its undisputed leader and flagbearer for the 2012 elections, but did so in a manner never done on the continent of Africa. In the first ever truly nationwide primaries to elect a presidential candidate, the NPP demonstrated its unique maturity and set itself apart from political parties across the continent. NPP-USA therefore congratulates Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his hard won victory, and the party as a whole for a historic feat accomplished in a loudly peaceful manner.

If there ever was any doubt in the minds of Ghanaians as to which party represents the future of our great country, that doubt was quashed on Saturday August 7. The Expanded Delegate System (EDS) of selecting party leaders, a short stop from the one-member-one-vote (OMOV) system proposed by NPP-USA, was a concept initially greeted by pessimism and push back by the naysayers. Its implementation was made even more daunting by the short amount of time the newly elected national executive had to plan and execute the concept. These notwithstanding, Ghanaians woke up the following day to learn that the election process was devoid of logistical nightmare, conflict, and mayhem that critics had predicted.

In keeping with its belief in the OMOV system, the NPP-USA conducted a similar nationwide election and offered ever member the opportunity to cast his or her vote for the preferred candidate. The numerical results (without the names of the candidates) released one week before the elections in Ghana came in at 75% for the winner, 22.3% for the runner-up, and 2.7% for the second runner-up. Interestingly, those margins were mirrored by the margins reflected in the final results in the nationwide elections in Ghana.

That Nana Akufo-Addo won was little surprise to most party insiders; what was surprising is the wide margin by which he won. The results reflect a unified party behind one candidate, a notion echoed by the other four competing candidates in their respective concession speeches. One could tell that the NDC was shaken by this development in the NPP. Team B Deputy Minister of Information Samual Okudzeto Ablakwa, in a vain and shameful attempt at stoking disunity was reduced to identifying whom his spies saw coming out of the offices of Alan Kyeremateng as indication of who was in whose camp.

If the NDC’s only hope of winning in 2012 is to highlight non-existent disunity in the NPP, it will be disappointed. Our party has spoken; Nana Akufo-Addo has the support of an entire party membership including all of us in the United States branch. As we congratulate our leader for his resounding victory, we pledge our unflinching support to him and promise to leave no stone unturned to ensure his victory and that of the party in the upcoming elections in 2012.