NANA Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, the presidential aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), will submit the name of his running mate to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party tomorrow.
But, according to him, the approval of the person chosen would have to be done in consultation with the party’s hierarchy.
Nana Akufo Addo stated this when hundreds of women besieged his East Legon Residence in Accra to make a strong case for Hajia Alima Mahama to be his running mate.
The women, who started arriving at the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange around 4.30 a.m, were conveyed in several vehicles to the residence of the NPP flag bearer.
Addressing the women in his house after holding a closed door meeting with the leading members of the women for about an hour, Nana Akufo Addo said that ”ours is not a political party where if Akufo Addo speaks, then that is final. We believe in consultation and consensus, where the majority view is respected”.
Nana Akufo Addo told the women that he respected their viewpoints on their choice of a running mate but cautioned that “one of the cardinal principles of the NPP was democracy and that was the reason why the party’s constitution indicates that the flag bearer should select the running mate in consultation with the party executive”.
He described the call on him by the women as a clear manifestation of their belief in the progress of the party and their respect for consultation and consensus building.
Nana Akufo Addo promised the women that he would make their views known to the national executive committee during the discussion to select a running mate but urged them to respect anyone who would be selected.
Nana Akufo Addo said he and the party respected the opinion of every individual or groups lobbying for the choice of a running mate and equally urged all such individuals and groups to reciprocate the gesture when the party finally came out with a running mate.
He told the women to take a cue from the party’s congress, where the unity of the party was not compromised even after he had been selected as the flag bearer.
Nana Akufo Addo said although there were 17 of them aspiring for the slot, with each member commanding support from the rank file of the party, when the congress decided on him as the flag bearer, all the other aspirants and their supporters closed their ranks and supported him.
In an 11-point document presented to the NPP flag bearer, the women said, “We do not want you to be under any illusion that the women of this great party do not support the choice of a woman as a running mate”.
They also catalogued a number of women who had been made leaders of their nations, ranging from Mrs Bennazir Bhutto of Pakistan, Indira Ghandi of Indian, Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, Margaret Thatcher of Britain, Mrs Golda Meir of Israel and Ellen Sirleaf Johnson of Liberia.
They also discounted the notion that a woman’s candidacy will not appeal to northern Muslims, arguing that “if a country like Pakistan, with a conservative Muslim population, could elect a woman as their prime minister, what prevents us from doing a similar thing? In all cases they excelled.”
The women also called for the selection of “hard core party person to take up the vice presidential slot. Although all those being touted as prospective running mates to Nana Akufo Addo are members of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition, not all of them could trace their roots to that great tradition.
Some of them were compelled to abandon ship mid-stream to join our own when they were short-changed by their previous political parties. Thus, in selecting a running mate, care should be taken not to make a stranger the running mate to the flag bearer”.
According to them, the running mate had the potential of becoming the president, should the unexpected happen to the incumbent.
They also recounted several instances where parties had forced running mates on presidential candidates with disastrous consequences.
No comments:
Post a Comment