Swallow Your Pride – Kufuor Tells NPP

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has tasked members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to bury their pride and rather commit to developing the country.

This, he said would endear the party to Ghanaians, making the NPP the party of choice for the country.

“…And to do this I’ve just come to you to please swallow your pride…for this, we must swallow our individual egos and with all due respect vanity for the greater good of our country and humanity at large.”

Former President Kufuor who was addressing the general delegate’s conference of the party over the weekend said it was high time NPP members strived for unity and support the vision of the President Akufo-Addo to ensure that the party stays in power for eternity.

According to him, the NPP can win the next election and subsequent ones if party members fight against acrimony and internal bickering.

“Let us not do anything that will begin to splinter us. If we can overcome this and hold together, I assure you that the people of Ghana will vote for us 2020, vote for us 2024, vote us 2028 and into eternity.

“We’ll become the party of the nation. I believe in this sincerely and this is what I’ve come to tell you.”

The former president added “I have come to remind you that we are only one and half years into power. Unfortunately for us, the tenure of office of our government is too short, it is only four years. You don’t change the world within four years but we want to change the world, we want to transform Ghana.

“And to be able to do this we need a very solid and united party as the undercarriage for the great vision and great policies the government is launching to be given the change of the day, to win election over and over again at the national level so that these visions could be realized for the people of Ghana as a whole.

Beyond the call for unity in the party, Mr. Kufuor, cautioned the government about the dangers of being power-drunk, and warned power handlers in the party that absolute power can corrupt them if care is not taken.

He reminded the party that accommodation of divergent views is all that is required for the healthy growth of any political group.

“There is one statement made by our former national chairman, the late B.J. da Rocha, that I love some much. He said: ‘That we are in the same party does not mean that we are friends’. I want to remind us that we must accommodate diversity with a common vision”, he said.

President Kufuor said the people of Ghana voted for the NPP in 2016 because they believed it was capable of delivering to them good governance and economic prosperity, and prayed the leaders to remain united, purposeful and single-minded in order to meet the aspirations of the people.

He said even though he was no longer an active leader of the party, he owed it a duty to be at the congress grounds to share his thoughts with party people, adding that if they are not careful, and take the paths of complacency and discrimination, power would corrupt them.