The Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has urged the leadership and members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to be realistic in dealing with petty squabbles and divisions among the rank and file of the party that impacted on its performance at the December 2016 polls.
“There were petty squabbles and quarrels that ensued from the conduct of the parliamentary and presidential primaries which disrupted the army that was marching. Without those internal conflicts, we could have done yet better than we did,” he pointed out.
He stressed that “as a party, we should confront the reality and not pretend that everything is right with us.”
The Majority Leader observed that the conduct of elections at all levels in the party was increasingly, rather unfortunately, polarising the party and stressed the need for the party to reflect on that issue.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said this when he addressed the annual delegates conference of the NPP in Cape Coast on Saturday.
Recipe for factionalism
According to him, people who wanted to offer their services to the party should not be travelling the length and breadth of the country, spending huge sums of money, in order to get elected.
“Regional officers spend millions of cedis to get elected. Constituency executives spend excessively to get elected,” he lamented.
He explained that in politics, nothing was free and that people who spent huge sums of money formed groups that took positions on whom their preferred candidates should be, saying it was a recipe for factionalism.
“And there are those who refer to themselves as king makers and queen makers who only position themselves to extract money from aspirants and even potential aspirants,” he decried.
He was emphatic in saying that such a practice could only breed corruption and called for steps to be taken to tackle it.
He said he was the only remaining NPP Member of Parliament (MP) who entered Parliament in 1997.
“I entered Parliament in the company of the honourables Mr Freddie Blay, Papa Owusu Ankomah, Christine Churcher, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Isaac Edumadze, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Albert Kan-Dapaah, Felix Owusu-Agyapong, Abraham Osei-Aidoo, S.K. Boafo, Grace Coleman, Kwame Osei-Prempeh, Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Dr Richard Anane, Dr Baffour Bonney, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Malik Alhassan Yakubu, Yaw Barimah, Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Mrs Gladys Asmah, Theresa Tagoe, Agyare Koi Larbi, Mustapha Iddris, to mention just a few, and how can I forget the man with the white handkerchief on his sleeve, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. We were led then by the venerable J.H. Mensah. These were excellent debaters, master-class performers,” he said.
He went on to ask: “Can anybody imagine the strength of the party if all these people were to be in Parliament today?”
Attrition on Parliament
The Majority Leader said many of the 1997 MPs were pushed out of Parliament because of hostilities in their various constituencies, adding that “generally speaking, the strength of the party is left poorer as a result of a forced high attrition rate.”
He stressed that the constant peeling off of MPs was not helping the growth of the party in Parliament and explained why championing the cause of the party was left on the shoulders of a few MPs.
“So if you are not hearing much of your MP in Parliament, it is in part because you are not growing the party in your constituency. Let us reflect critically on what to do to position the party in our various constituencies,” he urged.
He said the government and the generality of the party had just started a journey of restoration to facilitate the creation of jobs and create the enabling environment for the rapid and sustainable industrialisation of the country.
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