Nyaho Calls For Truce In NPP

A leading founder of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, has waded into what he describes �the needless confusion in the party�, asking that it be stopped forthwith, especially since the political grouping is on course to regaining power in 2012. Speaking to the media at his residence on the outskirts of Accra, the immediate past Ghanaian envoy to Serbia entreated former President John Agyekum Kufuor to be the neutral father figure in the impasse so the wounds of the past can heal. �I therefore call on former President J.A. Kufuor to be the neutral father figure that this party so badly needs to heal the wounds of the past,� he implored. Divisive tendencies such as being witnessed now, he observed, caused the NPP to lose elections in the past and therefore asked the party membership to be wary of the repercussions of the raging conflict between the so-called Nana Addo and Allan Kyeremanteng factions. Sounding resilient and robust, he stated that �I refuse to keep quiet when I know that these developments are gradually, but critically destroying the fabric of our great party. Therefore, I will speak, and speak and speak very loudly and strongly because I believe in development in freedom.� That his intervention in the imbroglio is coming at a time the party is mourning the late Naa Morkor Busia, wife of the late K.A. Busia, one time Prime Minister, he noted, is significant. Tracing what for him is a colourful history of the UP tradition, he recalled the contributions of the party�s forebears, adding that individuals such as S.D. Dombo, K.A. Busia, S.G. Antoh, Modesto Apaloo, Jato Kaleo, Abayifa Karbo, B.K. Adama, Amadi Mandi, Imoru Salifu, Bafour Osei Yaw Akoto, Obetsebi Lamptey, Dzengle Dzewu, Solomon Odamten and Nii Amar Amarteifio among others, provided enviable qualities which have structured a strong and firm political tradition. The founding fathers, he stated, always looked at the larger interests of the party, adding �the party does not belong to any one generation; any one generation should better the party.� According to Dr Tamakloe, the founding fathers �forgave and forgot and never pursued their narrow personal agenda. K.A. Busia and S.D. Dombo worked together in parliament to build not only our tradition, but the young nation Ghana at that time.� In 1979, the party, while beset with a leadership challenge, lost an election, polls which he noted the political grouping could have won hands down. The party�s electoral fortunes suffered setbacks in subsequent polls until the emergence of J.A. Kufuor as a winning candidate in the 2000 polls.The scenario was different however in 2007 when a pack of 17 people vied for the flagbearership position of the party. �That large number of contestants cost us greatly and significantly contributed in our loss of political power in 2008. Indeed, that has been the cause of this deep-seated division in the party at the moment,� he said. Supporters of Nana Akufo Addo, the 2008 presidential candidate of the NPP, and their counterparts in the camp of Alan Kyeremanteng have been engaged in disagreements over which of the two persons should lead the party in 2012. The raging disagreements have been condemned by party elders as not being in the interest of its electoral interests.