A leading member of the New Patriotic Party, and an aspirant for the position of flagbearer for the NPP in the 2008 elections, Nana Akuffo-Addo has stated that the NPP would emerge stronger than before after the flagbearer for the party has been chosen.

Nana Akuffo-Addo, who is expected to this morning articulate Ghana's foreign policy, recounted the dynamics of the struggle of the NPP over the years that culminated in the resounding victory and re-election of President John Agyekum Kufuor in the 2000 and 2004 national elections respectively.

Nana Akuffo-Addo made these remarks at the first in a series of interactions between aspirants for the position of flagbearer and party members in the Diaspora organised under the auspices of the UK and Ireland branch of the NPP.

He stated that "I hope when the time comes, you would elect me to represent our great party, as the first among my colleagues to share my vision and programme with you here in London".

Akuffo-Addo gave a four-point criterion which he believed to be the basis for the election of the flagbearer of the NPP and which would result in another resounding victory for the party in the 2008 general elections.

Welcoming him, the Chairman of the UK and Ireland branch of the NPP, Hayford Atta-Krufi indicated that since 1992, the branch had demonstrated a tradition of collectively giving its vote to a candidate and that there was no reason for that tradition to be changed especially at this time that the party finds itself in government.

He stated that all aspirants had been invited to address the branch to help it make an informed choice and was delighted that Nana Akuffo-Addo had set the ball rolling at such very short notice.

Earlier, Sammy Crabbe, Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the NPP had addressed party members and apprised them of events back home.

There was a question and answer session during which Nana Akuffo-Addo tackled a wide range of issues on governance as well as party affairs.

To the question as to whether he was arrogant and elitist, Akuffo-Addo answered rhetorically, asking "how come within the space of 10 years, those who called me 'bold and courageous" now find me arrogant and elitist" while doing the same things for which reason he was described in superlative terms, drawing thunderous applause from the over 250 people who turned up for the event.

He asked party members to challenge the credentials of any aspirant who threatened that the party would break up in the event of his loss. Using himself as an example, he stated that he was the embodiment of how to respect the opinion of congress, the highest decision making body in the NPP.

He stated that those who have now found it fashionable to make such misguided statements were the same people who held that he would break away in 1998 after he lost to John Kufuor in that contest. "I am living proof of the strength and resilience of our party. I did not go anywhere nor formed anything.

"On the contrary, I have served the party and government to the best of my ability and remained one of its most loyal servants in whatever capacity I found myself, something which is partly responsible for yet another accusation that I turned my back on those who supported me in 1998; you do not support your party’s cohesion and government stability by strengthening or consolidating your personal ambitions at the expense of the collective programme…that would be a recipe for bad governance, mistrust and instability for the party in government" to yet another round of deafening applause from the audience.

Nana Akuffo-Addo was accompanied to the meeting by his wife Mrs Rebecca Akuffo-Addo and Calus Von Brazi, Operations and Research director at the FONAA Headquarters in Accra as well as the entire membership of the FONAA UK branch spread over England.

Source: The Statesman