Making time from his recent private visit to the United States, Mr. Harona Esseku, the National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), met with NPP executives in Washington DC and New York City. Paramount on the agenda was a dialogue on the wave of attacks that have been aimed at the Party and its leadership in Ghana.

The NPP members in New York sought to separate facts from single-minded political misinformation while conveying their sentiments to the Party Chairman and thereby to the President of the nation, the de facto Party leader. It was a tight-rope to walk by the Party?s leadership in the US because on one hand they conveyed their unadulterated support for the President and their Party while on the other they searched for ways to make them shine even brighter and by inference, dull the NDC opposition. The implication is that a widely- perceived high performance by the Kufuor administration dooms the chances of NDC candidates for the high positions of the land in 2008. This is the desired legacy they seek from the current administration.

The NPP members in New York did not hold back their sentiments of the role of perception in politics. Some individuals in the President?s cabinet may be doing well on some counts but if their continued inclusion in the cabinet is perceived as dragging down the entire government, then the New York group advised, ever so humbly, that such individuals should be asked to step aside. The battle for Ghana?s reputation abroad cannot afford people who violate public trust and endanger the country?s perception to potential investors. In the battle for local votes and for scarce overseas investor dollars, perception is reality and should be treated as such. Ghana, the group emphasized, cannot afford the return of the NDC no matter how challenged the NPP. People?s minds at home and abroad must be won decisively.

The NPP could improve its public relations activities in this regard and the Party?s leadership in the US is prepared to help. The achievements of President Kufuor and the NPP for Ghana must be continually and strategically highlighted to drown out the staged distractions such as the Gizell Yajzi affair and the incessant drumming of the Airport hotel saga. The instruments of mass delivery, i.e. radio and television should be fully exploited in national addresses by the President of Ghana. As an example, President Bush delivers weekly radio addresses to the nation even in this land of cutting-edge technology. The President and his team need to be seen on the offensive for Ghana and not to be defined by the NDC with smokescreens and half-truths. The NDC, the New York group added, have nothing better to do. They have all day to scheme the return to their years of killings, human rights abuses and plunder. The Attorney General?s office should be strengthened if the President himself admits that it is weak. It serves no one any good if this assessment is correct and actually feeds energy to the opposition rather than putting wrong-doers where they belong with proven indictments.

Mr. Esseku was all ears. He explained things from his vantage point and promised to convey the messages to the Party?s hierarchy in Accra. He thanked the Executives in New York for their continued support in light of the recent stream of ?not ?so-good? news coming through Ghana?s print media and Ghanaweb. He was gratified by their constructive input noting that this demonstrates the maturing of democracy in our land to which the NPP is committed. He challenged the US group to independently start media houses in Ghana and on the Internet.

Kofi A. Boateng General Secretary, NPP- New York