Politics of Friday, 6 November 2015

Source: peacefmonline

PPP could merge with NPP ahead of 2016 Elections

Charles OwusuCharles Owusu

The battle for political supremacy has gained grounds as political parties lace their boots to meet their opponents ahead of election 2016.

But ahead of the 2016 presidential election, political parties, especially those in the minor opposition [PNC, PPP, GCPP, CPP, etc.] are yet to take the decision of joining forces with other opposition parties.

The possibility of a minor opposition party merging with Ghana’s largest opposition party, New Patriotic Party [NPP] is likely to be Dr Papa Kwesi Ndoum’s Progressive People's Party [PPP].

The party’s leading member, Charles Owusu has hinted that – “PPP party will merge with the strongest opposition party to unseat the incumbent NDC in 2016.”

In an interview with Peacefmonline.com, the PPP’s communication expert maintained that his party is ready to form a force to save Ghana from the Mahama-led government.

“The country is at the verge of collapsing, so we need to form a force to make sure that we win power in 2016. We together with the merged party will look at how to take power in 2016 from the NDC. The 2016 elections must be in the interest of Ghana, so we manage the economy very well,” he said.

Considering the below average performance of the PPP during the 2012 general elections, with the party chalking just 64,362 of total vote cast totalling 0.59% [less than 1%] questions are rife over whether or not Founder of the PPP, Papa Kwesi Ndoum could consider merging with his ‘first love’, the main opposition New Patriotic Party.

This, according to Charles Owusu, is likely to happen since the “PPP cannot have the 60% margin to win the 2016 elections. That is why we are calling on all the forces.”

He assured that the PPP will replicate what the opposition parties did in neighbouring Nigeria to save the country from collapsing.

“You can take a cue in what happened in Nigeria. All the opposition parties came together to rescue Nigeria. That is what the PPP is calling for. We have opened our gate for the NPP and other parties to join us, but we are also prepared to join the strongest opposition to rescue Ghana if they share our ideology,” he said.

Asked whether the PPP will join the NPP in 2016 – with a smiling face, Charles replied – “I cannot say never, but it’s too early to say NPP, but you can never say never in politics.”