Razak Kojo Opoku Writes: Price Of Our Internal Sabotaging
I have read a lot of comments and complaints from the members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) regarding the unpatriotic behaviour of the Speaker of Parliament and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) members of Parliament in relation to the unconstitutional rejection of the 2022 Budget.
I appreciate the comments and complaints of these members regardless of my reservations about some of the issues they raised. My concern is we could have avoided today’s display of the Speaker if some of us had behaved well when we had the opportunity to vote to select the Speaker some months ago.
We failed woefully! Yes, we failed to select the Speaker of our choice. Some thought it would ultimately benefit President Akufo-Addo and selected a few party members. It is unfolding today.
It is important that collectively we correct some of our mistakes that make the party unattractive. We take delight in undermining, destroying and sabotaging each other. Some of us are happy at destroying the credibility of any rising star in the party.
In some extreme situations, others spend productive hours, days, months and even years just to bring down personalities in the party, who hold divergent opinions or views on a particular issue. These personalities are disliked for no apparent reason.
As a party that believes in the progress of this nation, we often than not appear to be more enemies to each other than even the opposition party. Some of us are quick to tell the past history of converts of the party as if they are not worthy human beings.
The utterances of some party members automatically put people off and make the party completely unattractive for neutrals and members of other political parties to join us.
Some of us sometimes behave as if only the core membership of the NPP can win us general elections. For these reasons and others, some of us cherish internal sabotage more than externally sabotaging the opposition party.
How do you break the 8year cycle curse with these attitudes? Absolutely not unless all of us change our mindset towards each other.
I quite remember, after the 2007 Presidential Primaries of the NPP at Legon, some supporters of the losing candidates gang-up against Nana Akufo-Addo in 2008, 2012 and 2016 general elections.
Some never campaign for Nana Akufo-Addo and others too hide behind some people in the Ashanti region to form smaller political parties, the stronghold of NPP against the bid of Nana Akufo-Addo.
Except for LPG (formerly IPP), these parties such as RPD, UFP, UPP, PAP, GFP, DPP, etc. were formed in Ashanti region by people who were once members or sympathizers of NPP with the sole objective of undermining the electoral fortunes of Nana Akufo-Addo and NPP, especially in the Ashanti region.
It has to take some of us, Razak Kojo Opoku, to strategically infuriate these smaller political parties and suppress their agenda against Nana Akufo-Addo in the 2012, 2016 and 2020 general elections.
Through my efforts and others, sizable members and executives of APC led by someone who was an ardent critic of Nana Akufo-Addo threw their weight behind Nana Akufo-Addo for the 2016 general elections.
Politics is about a comprehensive strategy to conquer. If we stop sabotaging each other, there is no way the NDC can defeat NPP in any general elections.
Thumbs up to Peter Mac Manu (finest Campaign Manager ever), John Boadu (classy General Secretary), Chairman Wontumi, myself Razak Kojo Opoku and our allied Kofi Akaploo for helping the NPP to bridge the gap between the party and minority political parties as well as establishing good relationships with the leaders of smaller political parties, something that NDC was doing well than us.
