Posted: The Chronicle | Wednesday, August 26, 2009
By Charles Takyi - Boadu
Though the largest opposition political party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) managed to hold a successful national delegates conference over the weekend, there are still lingering issues that the party has to deal with, especially the unity of the party.
National Youth Organiser of the party, Mr. John Boadu believes the leadership of the party, including the Executives and the Council of elders, have a lot of work to do to ensure a united front for 2012 elections.
In an interview with The Chronicle, Mr Boadu stressed that the way and manner in which the leadership of the party manages the issues that came up during the just-ended conference would to a large extent, determine the chances of the party in the next elections.
“If we are able to implement these far-reaching reforms to the fullest, the party will be in a better shape to recapture power”, he said.
Much as he appreciates the amendments made to the party’s constitution, since it has brought ‘power’ down to the people, Mr Boadu noted that these amendments are not an end to themselves, and that there are more work to be done.
“With such far-reaching changes and reforms, if it is not managed well, it is possible we may not have the desired results that we want, so having done this, there is the need for leadership to put their heads together to design a system that would enable these reforms and designs go through,” he emphasised.
Confident about the chances of the party in the next general elections, he believes the amendments of the NPP constitution could bring serious implications for the party if not handled well, since it has its own merits and demerits.
Whilst appreciating the fact that there may be some individuals or group of persons who may not be satisfied with sections of the amendments to the party’s constitution, taking into consideration the different views and opinions expressed prior to the conference. He noted that it is high time they buried their individual differences so as to ‘move forward’ in the interest of the party.
“Obviously, you can’t have everybody agreeing with a proposal but if congress decides, it is binding on all of us, this is democracy, majority rules and I believe that they themselves as democrats would understand,” he stressed. He charged the leadership of the party to take a queue from the wise counsel of former President Kufuor to bury their individual differences to ensure the unity of the party.