Mr. Harona Esseku is enjoying his last few months as the National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Party insiders say that will lose massively if he dares to put his name up for re-election.

Mr. Esseku is being held responsible for the woes of the party and reports from NPP circles say he has lost the confidence of members of the national executives, Member of Parliament and ordinary members of the party.

In its edition of Monday May 9, 2005, The Statesman newspaper sympathetic to the NPP reported that "Senior party executives and sympathisers, especially within the intelligentsia also complain of a phenomenal weakening of the party structures.

"Chairman Harona Esseku, seen by many as merely a loyalist of the President is accused of having no great ideas on how to strengthen the party. Several activists say Esseku's retention as chairman after the election of party executives would be a disaster for the party."