Chairman of the NPP Council of Elders, Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, has called for tough conditions to be imposed on individuals who resign from the party only to return later.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on September 17, he said the party has been far too lenient with such figures, describing their actions as disruptive to internal organisation and progress.

“There are a few of them, without mentioning names, who resigned, then came back, then resigned, then came back. It’s not a child game, so what the general secretary is saying makes a bit of sense.

"He’s saying that if you come, then some undertakings might be taken. You don’t come and disturb us. If you’ve gone, then if you want to stay where you are, stay, but if you come back, then we should have preconditions for you to do that thing,” he said.

Hackman noted that past indulgence of this behaviour has harmed the party.

“I believe that, but I think that in the past, we have been too liberal, lenient with people who have done that and eventually disturbed our forward march to better organisation and things like that,” he explained.

He also expressed frustration at the tendency of such returnees to malign the party after leaving.

“And then when they go, they don’t only shut their mouth, they begin to see all manner of things which never took place in the party.

"But people believe that, because they are coming from within, it’s almost like the fish coming from the water to say the crocodile is dead, and they have been quite a bit of a nuisance for me personally. And that’s my personal opinion,” he said.

The veteran politician stressed that stricter rules are needed to protect party unity.

“I think that if they come, the condition should be stringent, and people who have done it two, three times must not even be considered at all. That’s my personal opinion,” he declared.