The newly-elected General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Justin Kodua Frimpong, has pledged not to take sides and publicly support any flagbearer aspirant ahead of the NPP’s Presidential primaries.
According to him, it is something he will push through the committee, NEC and the National Council that party officers, particularly national officers, regional officers, constituency officers should not come out to support particular candidates. He indicated that his resolve to remain impartial will start with him by preaching the “gospel message to everyone that for me as General Secretary I will not take sides”.
Mr Frimpong noted that such conduct by party officials does not only flout laid down party rules, but contributes to disunity within the party, further denying them the leverage to breaking the eight.
“As General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, I will not take sides in the Presidential primaries, and I will be an honest referee. I will make sure that the rules, the processes that leads to us selecting our Presidential candidate will be free, fair and transparent.”
Justin Kodua Frimpong
Mr Frimpong emphasized that he will take a cue from what happened in 2007 and 2008 where at a point in time the party was “so sharply divided. We had party officers supporting candidate A [and] others supporting candidate B”. He stated that by the time the Presidential primaries was done, there was so much division and acrimony that leaders and supporters alike couldn’t unite for the 2008 election.
“Once the party makes rules, once the party makes directive, trust me on that we will crack the whip when it becomes necessary without fear or favour.”
Justin Kodua Frimpong
Popularity of NPP among Ghanaians
Commenting on the popularity of the NPP, Mr Frimpong highlighted that an analysis of the margin by which the NPP and the NDC have both won and lost elections is an indication that Ghanaians are generally more tilted towards the NPP. He expressed that since 2000, anytime NPP loses elections, the margins are very close, however when the party wins elections, the margins are always higher.
“For instance, in 2000 when President Kufuor was winning the second round, he had 56.9%; in 2008 when NDC was winning the elections, they had 50.23%; even in 2012 when the NDC won the elections, they won with 50.7%; in 2016 when NPP was winning the elections, we won with 53.72%; in 2020 when we won the election, we won with 51.30%.”
Justin Kodua Frimpong
The reason for this analysis, Mr Frimpong noted, is that when the party is winning elections, the margins are very high and NDC struggles to win elections in Ghana, “at least from 2000 coming to 2020”. That notwithstanding, he concerted that the party must work harder this time round and more effectively with the government before the 2024 elections.
“So, naturally it tells you that Ghanaians are a bit or more tilted towards the NPP because it’s difficult for the NPP to lose election… On the backdrop of that, what we need to do from now to 2024 is to make sure that we give Ghanaians hope for them to understand the situation that we find ourselves in.”
Justin Kodua Frimpong
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