UPPER EAST NPP ACTIVISTS DISAGREE WITH PORTIONS OF AMENDMENTS (D/G, Saturday, August 22, 2009. PAGE 14)

SOME activists of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Upper East Region have disagreed with portions of the proposed amendments to the party’s constitution which they claim, have the potential of damaging the unity and advancement of the party.
This was contained in a statement signed by Mr Mark Wanaba on behalf of a group of NPP activists who also claimed to be part of the “amendment delegation” from the region.
The statement said it had found the proposal for the expansion of the presidential electoral college very dangerous “because the argument that the expansion of the electoral college will do away with the perceived use of money to influence delegates does not fly since those elected as flag bearers for the party in the recent past have proven to be credible persons”.
It further contended that the rather large size of the proposed electoral college would become a serious drain on the party’s resources.
The statement said the enlargement of the electoral college would destroy electoral confidentiality in the sense that the election of the party’s flag bearer would now be done at the various constituencies as in a general election and the results declared right from the constituency level.
“As a result, a candidate who emerges as the flag bearer will know which constituencies supported his presidential ambition and those which tried to sabotage that dream”, it said, adding that such a development would breed suspicion and disunity in the party.
“On the basis of the aforementioned argument, the proposed expansion of the electoral college for presidential, parliamentary and constituency level elections should be rejected and the status quo maintained”, the statement cautioned.
Arguing further, the group said the proposed amendment which sought to restrict party membership and eligibility to only card bearers appeared to be highly discriminatory.
It cited for instance, the difficulty in acquiring party cards which, they said, had become a serious challenge to many loyal rural party members at the grass-root level.
“The highly centralised processes involved in the acquisition of membership cards seriously discriminates against thousands of loyal members outside Accra”, the statement said.
According to the information in the amendment document, over 4,500,000 Ghanaians voted for Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo in the 2008 presidential election but NPP card bearing members were just about 200,000.
That, the statement claimed, clearly indicated that an overwhelming majority of party members, sympathisers and loyalists did not bear cards, adding “How then can card-bearing be used as a yardstick to judge one’s membership of, and loyalty to the party?
The statement expressed the hope that the party was capable of coming back to power in 2012, and therefore, called on all members to learn from their past mistakes and not to do anything to divide the party over mere constitutional amendments which had no direct bearing on the decisions of the electorate.