George Kyei Frimpong
3 November 2009
Accra — An Aspiring Chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Steve Ntim has criticized the leadership of the party for failing to publish the constitutional amendments that was approved by the recent conference of the party.
In a two page letter to Chairman Mr. Peter Mac Manu, dated October 23, this year, he said after the delegates' meeting held some two months ago, one would have expected the leadership of the party to publish the constitutional amendments effected, to clear the minds of people, but that has not happened.
He told The Chronicle in an interview that under normal circumstances the election for national offices should have been held in August this year, however, the date has been pushed to December 19, this year, adding that the situation has made the campaign expensive.
Mr. Ntim warned that any further postponement would cause serious strain on their campaign and it could even lead to a breach in its constitution. Asked why he has decided to make the letter public, he said this would settle all doubts and suspicions that there could be acrimony in the election.
Below is the full text of his letter to the National Chairman of the party. Read on.
This is the very first time that I am writing to you to raise concerns about some pertinent issues in the party that are bothering my mind. I am very confident that you and all well-meaning party members will agree with me by the time I end this write-up.
AFTERMATH OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
It has been over two months since we effected a wide range of amendments to our constitution with the view to enhancing the party's internal democracy, a key prerequisite to our chances of regaining power in 2012. It would have been proper, in my opinion, for the party to have by now published the amendments either as an addendum or as an updated version of the entire original constitution. This will help members to appreciate the amendments, their details and ramifications, in order to clear any doubts in the minds of the rank and file, especially in the wake of this crucial election season.
ELECTION OF NATIONAL YOUTH ORGANIZER AND NATIONAL WOMEN'S ORGANIZER
You would recall that a motion introduced on the floor of the conference regarding the election of the National Youth Organizer and the National Women's Organizer was adopted. However, there are more questions than answers regarding the modalities to govern the election of these two very important national officers. First, it is still uncertain whether there will be a separate conference to elect these officers or they will be elected at the same conference that will elect the rest of the national officer corps. Next, the amendments sought primarily to expand the respective electoral colleges of all positions at all levels of party's leadership. In the case of these two positions, however, we do not yet know whether only the 230 Constituency Youth/Women's Organizers and the 10 Regional Youth/Women's Organizers, totalling only 240 in each case, will constitute the respective electoral colleges which would be too small, hence a dichotomy, or these few delegates plus all the over 21,000 Polling Station Youth/Women's Organizers will form the electoral colleges, which would also be too huge for the purpose, granted that only about 5,000 delegates will elect all the other national officers, including the National Chairman and the General Secretary.
Furthermore, it would be appropriate to indicate the composition of the electoral colleges for the election of the Constituency and Regional Youth/Women's Organizers in accordance with the spirit of the amendment regarding the election of their counterparts at the national level.
OFFICIAL REGISTER OF DELEGATES FOR NATIONAL OFFICERS' ELECTIONS
The 2009 National Annual Delegates' Conference has been tentatively fixed for 19th December 2009. I wish to strongly recommend that a comprehensive official register of the delegates for the election of national officers should be made available to all aspiring candidates for the national positions at least three weeks before the election. The register must include the categories, names of delegates and their photographs. This move will reduce tension by addressing concerns being harboured by candidates regarding the authenticity of the register of delegates, as well as afford them the opportunity to carry their respective campaigns to the delegates with clinical precision.
Furthermore, a conscious effort should be made to explain how the 15 Patrons will be selected to represent all patrons nationwide, since there is no association of Patrons in existence. Party members in general, and candidates for these positions in particular, are interested in knowing the exact number of Founding Members eligible to become delegates, since it is not enough to simply say that all Founding Members will vote.
ELECTORAL TIME-TABLE
The term of office of national officers is supposed to be four years. If I am not mistaking, this 4-year term, by convention, starts from 1st January of the first year and ends on 31st December of the fourth year. By implication, the term of office of the current executive should end on 31st December 2009, to enable the next set of leaders to start their term of office from 1st January, 2010.
Party members are expecting that this constitutional provision will be strictly adhered to. Any deviation would amount to a breach of the constitution, because it would unconstitutionally extend the term of office of the current executive and reduce that of the incoming executive. JOINT CONTESTANTS COMMITTEE (JCC) OR INTER-ASPIRANTS REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE (IARC)
I am of the opinion that in order to ensure that all contestants for positions will be at peace with each other and with the electoral process, and eventually accept the results of the elections, an ad hoc committee called, for lack of a better expression, Joint Contestants Committee or Inter-Aspirants Representative Committee, should be formed to liaise with the Elections Committee to establish the ground rules pertaining to the elections.
Membership of the committee should comprise primarily the candidates for all the positions to be contested for, or at least one representative of each of them. In my view, the establishment of this committee will go a long way to reduce tension and all undesirable developments that can potentially affect a smooth election.
CONCLUSION
Mr. Chairman, thank you for your attention, and I am looking forward to receiving a response that would at least attempt to address the various concerns raised in this humble petition. Thank you. Sincerely, STEPHEN NTIM (Former National First-Vice Chairman, NPP)
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