Former President John Agyekum Kufuor is not in favour of many of the proposals to amend the constitution of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), spokesperson Frank Agyekum has hinted.
Mr Agyekum said the former president is against some of the key proposals because the NPP constitution needs enforcement and not amendment.
The main opposition party goes to congress Saturday, August 22 with the amendment of several provisions of its constitution on top of the menu for consideration.
Key among proposals circulated are a change of name to the National Patriotic Party (NPP), swelling the electoral college and limiting the number of its flagbearer aspirants to three.
The constitutional amendments are the offshoot of a postmortem exercise by the party after its defeat in the cliffhanger 2008 elections and other preceding events.
Some 17 big guns of the Dankwa-Busia fraternity filed to context the flagbearership of the party ahead of the December 2008 elections, a situation that was widely criticized by its members.
Mr Agyekum, who was speaking to Joy News’ Evans Mensah, said the former president has serious reservations with the decision to expand the party’s electoral collage.
“One of his (ex-president Kufuor’s) concerns is the expansion of the electoral college to elect party leaders, especially the presidential candidate,” Mr Agyekum said.
“He believes that in opposition and the situation in which we are, we should tread cautiously and whatever amendments we bring should not be too drastic as to affect the current system.”
He said the former president is also of the opinion that the cause of the party's defeat "is not because the system is not workable but it's because people abuse the system.”
Healthy proposals | |
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A crowd of NPP supporters |
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Mr Agyekum stressed it is the view of the ex-President that such proposed changes could expose the party to some “unforeseen dangers.”
“We are beginning to tread some territory that we have not gone before and we don’t know how that is going to end. Meanwhile we are in the opposition, we want to come back to power in four years. Time is of the essence,” he stressed.
Mr Agyekum also dismissed suggestions that the former president is influencing delegates with money to push through his position on the changes.
“President Kufuor has not done any such thing,” he stated.
Meanwhile, National Organiser of the NPP, Mr Lord Commey has described proposals for the amendment as healthy.
The 1,490 accredited delegates of the NPP will be expected to vote for or against the over-40 proposed amendments.
Story by Fiifi Koomson/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana
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