Many who followed the geo-political space in Ghana’s tertiary educational institutions in the late 90s witnessed the resonance of vibrant, committed tertiary students who were poised for action to secure victory for the New Patriotic Party.

This was a re-organization of the then latent NPP branches in the tertiary education institutions into a formidable branch of the party that was capable of mobilizing its members to serve as polling agents across the country, and also propagating the party’s manifesto and campaign message into the hinterlands ahead of the 2000 general elections.

The Tertiary Education Confederacy of the New Patriotic Party (TESCON) has always been responsive to the clarion call of mobilizing the youth of Ghana for the NPP and this has accounted for the huge numbers of TESCON membership across the country.

TESCON has produced party stalwarts since its inception, who occupy various political offices today.

A reckoning development has hit TESCON, yet again, which is breeding tension among members in the various tertiary institutions resulting in a petition by TESCON threatening to boycott all NPP activities forthwith.

How did we get here?

The NPP’s Peter Mac Manu, Chairman of the Election Committee, informed the delegates in the just ended National Delegates Conference last Saturday of an order of the Court prohibiting TESCON, who represented about 291 delegate voters at the Conference, from voting in the election of National Officers.

TESCON received this news with huge resentment. Members having traveled from various institutions, both from far and near, were disgruntled about the development. Numerous calls were made to the rank and file of the party but all the attempts yielded no fruits. This resulted in a lot of agitations on social media and the mainstream media by its members.

It is my view that barring TESCON from voting in the just-ended National Delegates Conference is most unfortunate and constitutes a sin against the principles of mass participation, democracy, and rule of law which forms the core of the party’s values and must not be countenanced by a political party like the NPP. At this critical moment of the party, all efforts must be geared towards unifying the Party as our theme of the conference suggested: HOLDING TOGETHER, WORKING TOGETHER.

As TESCON and members of the most vibrant youth wing, we appreciate and embrace patience as a virtue but the quietness of a lion does not mean it is weak.

Whilst we entreat members to keep calm, we make a clarion call on the Youth Wing to, as a matter of urgency, ensure that calm is restored and finality is brought to the matter.

The party must demonstrate commitment to TESCON by investigating the issues leading to the disenfranchising of TESCON through a ‘late night’ injunction which many have alluded to as political machinations against TESCON.

Let it be heard loud and clear that the times are wavering and the grounds are shaky.  A competent plan to resolve this dispute and avoid its reoccurrence must be put in place, as soon as practicable, to ensure that this does not degenerate into what might be a pinch into our fortunes as we mobilize our base to break the eight.

The writer is Nana Yaw Yamoah-Tuffour

(A Patriot and Aspirant for President, TESCON KNUST)