The letter affirming the forfeiture of membership of four persons from the NPP for choosing the butterfly over the elephant has been condemned by Ransford Edward Van Gyampo, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Ghana.
Even though the move being influenced by what is strictly stated in the constitution of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Prof. Gyampo says rules are made for men and not the other way around, the reason the elephant party should know when to make the regulations flexible and when not.
He was commenting on the sacking of the four who openly declared their support for Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, a flag bearer hopeful of the NPP who resigned to form his own movement.
Commenting on the issue Saturday, November 25, 2023, Prof. Gyampo said adhering to rules and regulations always when the option of overlooking things is the best choice devoid society of rationalism.
“They went by what their constitution said, I was thinking they would have just remained silent on the matter because it is not always the case that we would have to follow rigid rules. Following rigid rules without thinking about consequences sometimes ushers all of us into a regime of robots,” he noted.
He explained that the repercussions of the decision taken by the leadership of the party would be dire considering what occurred in Fomena during the 2020 elections.
“You’ve targeted these senior four party members and you said they’ve forfeited their membership but how about the rest of the supporters? And if they’ll not give you their votes for the presidential elections, how about the parliamentary elections? How about if they’re people who contribute dues in funding the political party? Don’t you need their dues again?
“I think that they should have just kept this to themselves and allow things to flow but NPP has a penchant of sacking members and its becoming one too many. They should remember what happened in Fomena that they eventually had to go and beg,” he pointed out.
Background
Alan Kyerematen, a founding member of the NPP and former minister of Trade and Industry, resigned from the party after accusing leadership of scheming the presidential primary in favour of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
This was occasioned at the super delegates’ conference that was held in August 26 to prune the 10 aspirants to 5. After coming third in the poll, Mr. Kyerematen pulled out of the November 4 final contest and subsequently resigned from the party to form the Movement for Change to contest the 2024 elections as an independent candidate.
The decision led to four stalwarts of the party forfeiting their membership for publicly declaring their support for Mr. Kyerematen as opposed to the party’s constitution.
The leadership, in a statement signed by General Secretary Justin Koduah Frimpong, announced that the four members: Yaw Buaben Asamoa, a former MP and Director of Communications; Boniface Abubakar Saddique, also a former MP; Nana Ohene Ntow, a former General Secretary and Hopeson Yaovi Adorye, a former member of the communications team, were no longer part of the party.
The decision, is what many has described as unnecessary since it has the potential of drifting their support base to lose people who could have voted for the NPP’s parliamentary candidates even if not for the flag bearer.
