Mr. Osafo Marfo, a former presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has backed calls for the party to present Nana Akufo-Addo, its flag-bearer for 2008 elections, and Mr Allan Kyeremateng, for the 2012 general elections. The former Minister for Finance was however cautious as the party’s constitution would not allow “blanket endorsement.” “In my judgement, if we are after power, which I think it is what we are after, and we are to be guided by history then for the next election, 2012, NPP should repeat Nana Addo for the last time. “The second most popular person in our party is Alan Kyerematen, so we have to think about a combination that would be an advantage to the party”. Mr. Osafo Marfo said Mr. Alan Kyeremateng is popular among floating voters and prayed nothing should be done to derail ticketing the two. “Don’t forget that we are after power” he cautioned. Meanwhile, a leading member of the party, Alhaji Haruna Atta, who is also the Editor of The Mail newspaper, said none of the two should be considered as the party’s presidential candidate. He alleged the acrimony between them cost the party the December 2008 election. Alhaji Haruna Atta also warned against rushing to coronate Nana Addo Alan. “2012 is far away. There could be more interesting people. Why should we lock ourselves with one or two people?” In a related development, Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey, Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Governance, has abhorred the political culture in the country. He said opposition parties have failed to contribute their experience to the running of the state but are concerned with contesting onlt elections. The political parties, he charged, are “have not disentangled (themselves) from the election campaign and shifted into the governance mood of politics to develop the country and move the economy forward”. He described the current status quo in Ghana’s politics as “miserable”, where by party politics have been reduced to “just mobilising votes and winning elections”. Instead of sharing ideas on issues that would help solve some socials problems confronting Ghanaians, parties, especially the NPP, as the immediate past government, rather enjoy criticising. “This is serious distraction that is not serving the best interest of Ghana.” Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com