When the history of the New Patriotic Party is written, 2013 will go down as one of its most important and iconic years.
In December 2012 when it became obvious that substantial irregularities had occurred to high jack the people’s will at the general elections, the N.P.P. chose to go to court instead of taking to the streets in violent protest.
This singular decision that we saw implemented through 8 months of 2013, strengthened the democratic culture of Ghana and laid to rest forever the two N.D.C. lies that (1) NPP was a violent party and (2) we wanted power at any cost.
This remarkable party, our NPP, was able to gather 24,000 out of the 26,000 “pink sheets” (92%) in time for their contents to be analysed and the lawyers prepare a case for the Supreme Court within 21 days of the declaration of results by the Electoral Commission. This is a feat that we have never been able to perform till now and only performed it because of the dedication of our members and the training (never enough) that we had been able to do since 2010.
I say Ayekoo to all who made this possible, the polling agents, the analysts and the lawyers who so ably represented us.
In court we were able to prove to the satisfaction of the majority of the Judges (5 out of 9) that irregularities had occurred and had occurred at a level that affected the outcome of the elections so that they ruled, 5 to 4, for a re-run of the election.
However once more we did not get the decision; strange, very strange.: Perhaps we should ask Hon. Victoria Hammah who was recorded to have spoken about people seeing the Judges.
We came so close to a second round, so close to not only winning the majority of votes but to also having the election declared for us. This we did in three years from very low beginnings.
In 2010 after 8 years in government the new national executive inherited a bleak situation at the Party headquarters: There was no money in our bank account nor any cash in hand., there was no vehicle for newly elected executives to use; utilities were cut off; substantial debts including debts for the Kumasi national conference were our inheritance.
In 2010 there were many among us who were undermining the confidence of the party by advocating that we surrender to NDC for 8 years. Had we done so I have no doubt that we would have lost many supporters who would have found no hope in us. Instead we rallied all to the cause.
There were many who were peeved by the treatment they had received during election 2008 who we had to go and mollify and bring on board for 2012.
We have come far and done much good work since those beginnings in 2010. In recounting what we have achieved we do not claim perfection, only God is perfect, but we use the power of the positive to encourage all of us to do better for the future. Those who continue to denigrate our Party and would have us believe that we are in total disarray do us no good and distort the truth.
In August 2010, after just 6 months in office, the new national executive of the NPP held the Party’s presidential primaries in constituencies across the nation, with some 120,000 Patriots voting to select the Party’s flag bearer. Not only were these the biggest primaries in the history of Ghana and a first for Africa but they were a remarkable success that sent a clear signal of a united Party determined to contest the coming General Elections fiercely.
We held Parliamentary primaries that were so successful only two “NPP independents” contested the general elections, down from the double figures of 2008.
At this year’s Tamale national executives election over 95% of our constituencies will be voting following successful constituency executives elections which in themselves followed successful polling station elections.
In opposition we built, through generous donations by well-wishers, an extension to the headquarters building for offices for the flag bearer, the campaign manager and his secretariat and a communication conference room and office and a new reception area. With the support of our members of Parliament we now have a Senior Executive duty home in East Legon. This compares with 8 years of government during which period not a single regional office was secured and the period 2005 to 2009 which saw the Party inherit the campaign office and leave it as it found it.
Although we can never do enough training we nevertheless trained more executives, national, regional and constituency; youth and women organizers, communications directors and executives, parliamentary candidates and polling agents than we have ever done before in any similar period.
With the resources challenges that come from being in opposition we faced an incumbent NDC government who had no scruples about using state resources, to the extent of overspending the national budget by GHC 8.7 billion. And yet we beat them at the parliamentary votes level by 121,000 votes. In 60% of the polling stations Nana Akufo-Addo beat candidate Mahama 60 to 40.
It was the irregularities at the 40% that allowed candidate Mahama to overcome the deficit and have the Electoral Commission declare him elected. These irregularities are what we took to court and proved to the majority of the Judges that they were real.
Yet the election was not declared for us. We must learn from what went wrong. If we repeat what happened then we are making mistakes, if we learn, then we have gained experience and are better placed for 2016.
To our diasporans who helped with money, logistics, public/media comments and their presence here during the campaign, I say ayekoo. To our partners in the International Democratic Union and their associated associations who helped with training and exposing our youth, women and parliamentarians to international practices, I say thank you, danke schoene and tack.
Finally I say thank you to all those who served the Party as executives between 2009 and 2014. You have left a solid foundation on which we must build.
We have a legacy to build on to achieve victory 2016. Let us learn from our past and apply what we have learnt for a more glorious future.
Victory 2016 awaits us if we focus on it and avoid being distracted by petty, personal agendas.
God bless all those who care for, serve and support the New Patriotic Party and Ghana.
God Bless you all.
Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey
(National Chairman)
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