Speedily patch up the cracks, no time for sour grapes!!

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) over the weekend had a rather very successful National Delegates Conference to elect a new set of National Executive members and for a contest that had almost 50 aspirants slugging it out among themselves for some 10 slots, the pain of losing should not be ignored.

It is such post election pains, if not handled well, that fester into internal cracks: cracks that would eventually break a united front instead of ‘Breaking The 8’.

The recent election was contested by humans and certainly as part of the campaign, a few jab and not-too-friendly shots may have been fired here and there. Most times such avoidable attacks do not originate from the aspirants themselves per say but rather from some passionate supporters who get carried away and throw below-the-belt punches.

For a party that is struggling in government to make Ghanaians happy and which has some two years and 6 months to seek a third successive term mandate from an unhappy electorate, it would need every Tom, Dick and Harry on board, working hard in a united spirit and mind to achieve a common goal.

That much needed united spirit has several allergies including but not limited to bitterness, rancor, unhealed pains caused by offences, a feeling of selective neglect, post-internal-election cracks, arrogance from leadership, and the list goes on.

The New Publisher needs not remind the NPP of a prudent statement from of its most respected leaders, former President John Kufuor, who said in 2009 that it is better to be a messenger in a ruling party than to be a General Secretary in an opposition party.

We are hopeful that the newly elected Chairman, Stephen Ntim, who himself has made four unsuccessful attempts at the Chairmanship position but won on his fifth attempt, would be in the best position to know how bad it feels to lose an internal election and how worse it feels if the loser is intentionally ignored by the winner.

We have zero doubts in our minds Chairman Ntim would be a unifier and work with a sense of urgency to practically dissolve all campaign camps, adopt a genuine and sincere approach to mending internal cracks where they exist and lead his party to a third term victory.

Certainly, Stephen Ntim would not want to be described as the man who campaigned for 20 years to become National Chairman and then sent his party into opposition.

In all honesty, the onus does not lie on Chairman Ntim alone. It is the responsibility of every party leader at all levels and every party faithful to agree to work in unity towards a common goal.

The perception of a continuous selective neglect and the belief that some party members are treated with scorn and disdain should be an attitude of the past. It is a defeatist strategy.

You cannot ignore your members now and expect them to not ignore you in return when you need them to turn up at the polls.

We wish the new leadership the very best and once again we say CONTRATULATIONS.