DINOSAURS OUT!
Inside the bull pit of the New Patriotic Party, a quiet revolution is taking place that does not have a room at the inn for any one that cannot look straight in the eye of the average delegate and tell him, hands on heart, whether he has done anything that is wrapped in guile.

The second question, that is primed to the Minister aspirants is – WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT TO DO DIFFERENTLY THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO NOW?

Mr. Boakye Agyarko, 50, the man from Bank of New York dropped the loaded question right from the outset of his campaign and this has become the watch word of every delegate.

That leaves a lot of red faces among the stalwarts who have decided that the campaign should go on regardless and have intensified their race.

First set of dinosaurs, Konadu Apraku and Allan Kyeremanten converged on Ashanti region with Mr. Boakye Agyarko beating a retreat and repairing to Krobo Odumase over the weekend. Aides said he would rather spend more quality time than spend ten minutes with the delegates and hurry up with his presentation as was suggested to him.

The Ministers who are gunning to succeed the President include Yaw Osafo Maafo, who was dropped in the reshuffle and was too slow to ride the storm to keep his momentum. He was overtaken by the man who was greeted two times General Secretary of the party, ‘Field Marshall’ Dan Botwe, and who now posts the most impressive scoring having been swept ahead in the political bull pit.

Dan Botwe is incredibly streets ahead of the hassling and is now in the western region for two days at a time when the captain of the area Papa Owusu Ankomah is out of the area.

Hon. Hackman Owusu Agyeman, 67 next birthday, already very much a dinosaur, fancied his chances when Nana Akufo Addo’s home constituency caught fire and the rump of his party executives were carted off by Hackman. Nana Addo’s problems were compounded by the troubles facing two of his relatives – Theresa Tagoe and Nana Akomeah- who both followed their ‘brother’s example by leading an insurrection against their chairmen with disastrous consequences. They both received the short end of the stick from party chairman, Mr. Sammy Crabbe.

Party Chairman is on record as saying that whoever is going to stand as NPP presidential candidate is going to be reviewed and turned inside out by the NDC, and that leaves Dan Botwe, Boakye Agyarko, Dr. Arthur Kennedy and incredibly, Frimpong Boateng and Papa Owusu Ankomah as the party men who feel sufficiently clean to scale the next hurdle.

Secret campaigns Most of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) gurus in the Eastern Region have expressed anger over what they describe as secret presidential campaign by the numerous aspirants in the area without their knowledge.

According to them, their activity is in serious breach of the party's constitution and are therefore advising them to change their attitude by waiting for the party to open nominations before they embark on their campaigns.

This came to light when The Chronicle sampled opinions of senior NPP members as to how they foresee the upcoming presidential primary, with about 20 aspirants lined up for the flagbearership.

Already, almost 11 of the aspirants have toured the region where they met with supposed delegates without the knowledge of the regional party Secretariat as they claim "we want it to be secret so that when we come back then we will let it be open".

Information reaching The Chronicle has it that so far, only Hon. Yaw Osafo Maafo, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Oda Constituency, had officially written to inform the regional party secretariat of his tour but even then he stressed that the visit be kept secret.

Even journalists in the region hardly hear of their coming to tour the region but only hear of it after they had left the region and gone back to Accra or continued to other regions.

Some of the aspirants who have secretly toured the region without notices to the regional Secretariat include: Capt.. Nkrabea-Effah Dartey (Rtd), Hon. Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor, Mr. Alan Kyeremanten and Mr. Kwabena Agyepong.

Chronicle learnt that after Capt. Effah-Dartey had visited some selected constituencies, he attended a convention held by the Methodist Church at Wesley School Park at Betom in Koforidua, where he grabbed the microphone upon request and sang to the admiration of all that had gathered there at that time.

The paper's source has it that the retired Captain put out a splendid performance of the song, "Ma twen Awurade anim" which won many souls for Christ.

After this, he pleaded with the church members to continue to pray for him since the exercise was not easy. He said he had even been involved in some fatal accidents but survived them by God’s grace.

"What surprises me is how they skid the regional party executives and the press. When they hear that we are aware then they reschedule their activities," says a member of the regional executive.

Still some party members believe that although it is democratic to have such a large number contesting, some of them may withdraw along the way, whilst some are also just trying to get exposure in the political arena as a prelude to future contest.

Others are also worried as to why the President is dragging his feet in disciplining those who are cabinet ministers and are not supposed to campaign until the nominations are opened.