The 2008 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the contest at the party's polling station elections is not about him and Mr Alan Kyerematen but a product of the party's pioneering role in enriching democracy in Ghana. Dismissing reports that his supporters and those of Mr Kyerematen were engaged in some skirmishes at the ongoing elections, Nana Akufo-Addo attributed any perceived or real challenges at the constituency elections to the fact that the exercise to involve the grass roots in party decision-making was a novelty. "The NPP has always been the trailblazer in enriching democracy in the country and the effort to expand its electoral college is another novelty," he stressed, and pointed out that there was no political party in Africa that had expanded its base the way the NPP had done. Nana Akufo-Addo was speaking to the media after he had addressed some party members at an NPP family gathering organised by Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, a leading member of the party, in Accra. He maintained that the polling station executive elections had been generally successful and had also rekindled the spirit of the supporters and members of the party throughout the country in readiness to win the 2012 elections. Addressing the party members, he said the election of the polling station executives was about offering the ordinary member of the party his or her position as the major stakeholder in the NPP. "It is not about Akufo-Addo or Alan Kyerematen," he declared. According to Nana Akufo-Addo, it was now conventionally accepted that any political party that won majority votes in the Greater Accra Region would definitely win the general election .and urged the members and executive of the party in the region to work assiduously to ensure the party's victory in the region. He said the most important prerequisites for winning the region and subsequently the general election were unity and hard work and urged the party faithful to bury all differences and work towards winning power. He also urged the executive of the party to ensure that all elections were organised according to laid down rules and regulations, as well as with all seriousness, for the collective success of the party and not for any individual interest. Nana Akufo-Addo said once the party had decided and elected a person for a certain position at the constituency, regional or national level or as a flag-bearer, all that was needed was for all members of the party, "whether you voted for the person or not, to support such a person in the interest of the party". He urged the party members to avoid petty bickering and unite arid also ensure that whoever emerged as a leader at the constituency, regional or national level or as flag bearer "will be our man, whether we supported him or not, and if we do that there is no political force in the country that can withstand the elephant". Nana Akufo-Addo said the maltreatment and sacking of supporters •and leading members of the NPP from their workplaces by the current administration had really indicated that "we are all in one boat". "Now we should also show them that we're NPP people and not supporters of Alan or Akufo-Addo. At the end of the day, when we stand before our real opponents, they don't make any distinction between us as supporters of Alan or Akufo-Addo. All they see is that we are NPP," he added. He described the task of winning the 2012 polls as a Herculean one which the NPP must live up to and form the next government to develop the country and ameliorate the current economic hardship. Nana Akufo-Addo said the NDC had disappointed Ghanaians through the harsh economic situation it had taken them through in the nine months of the Mills administration. He described the gathering as very good for party cohesion and urged the party members to continuously meet to offer one another the opportunity to get whatever bothered them off their chests. Source: Daily Graphic