FORMER President John Agyekum Kufuor has disputed claims that he has a faction within the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that is pushing for his personal agenda and interests.
He told delegates at the NPP congress over the weekend that amended portions of the party’s constitution that “I am a thorough bred NPP. I have supported the ideals and principles of the party all my life. I have no intention of departing from that. Through the party, I reached the highest point in political life anybody could wish for anywhere in the world”.
Mr Kufuor said he was not in contention for any position in the party and expressed his commitment to play his role as an elder statesman within the party.
He entreated party members to respect one another, unite, and prepare adequately to recapture the seat of the presidency in 2012.
“I tell you my dear friends, brothers and sisters that power is there for our taking if only we put our house in order,” he told the delegates.
He appealed to the delegates to put their personal biases aside and unite behind the amendments that were made for the party to reclaim its previous position.
The former president urged members of his party to eschew discontent, rancour and division within their ranks, adding that “we should leave here as one strong, united party” and urged them to demonstrate to the world that the NPP was one family with many parts.
He said the strength of the party lay in their collectivenenss and singleness of purpose. “I tell you, If we are able to show this singleness of purpose and show to the world that we are one strong, united body, a greater part of the job to recapture power in 2012 would have been done”.
“The world is watching, Ghanaians are watching, we dare not fail them, we dare not fail ourselves,” he said.
The Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said the NPP in 1997 had to beg people to contest on its ticket, but now, “many people rather had to be begged to step down in the contest”.
The party, according to him, grew the economy from 3.7 per cent in 2000 to 7.3 per cent in 2008 and said “when we assumed government, inflation was 40.5 per cent, when we exited in 2008 which was our annus horibus, our worst year inflation was 18.5 per cent, still over 100 per cent better than what we met it”.
He noted that the Gross International Reserves (GIR) in 2000 was $296 million while the net reserves was $194 million and added that in 2008, when the NPP was leaving office, the GIR had increased to $2.1 billion while the net reserved stood at $1.3 billion.
“Interest rate in 2000 was 50 per cent, interest rate in 2008 was 26 per cent. Depreciating of the cedi against the US dollar in 1999 was 120 per cent and 50 per cent in 2000.
“Using 2001 as base year, depreciation of the cedi against the US dollar for the entire eight-year rule of NPP was 58 per cent,” he said.
The NPP, he said, assumed government to meet per capita income at $290 and left government in 2008 with per capita income of $712, the highest since Ghana’s independence.
The comparison, according to Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, could not indicate that the economy was broke as claimed by members of NDC.
“The micro and macro indicators pointed to an economy that was doing very well and President Kufuor, the most successful leader of the UP stock, had exceedingly high ratings among his peers not only in Africa but in the entire world.
“How come our track record could not win us victory in 2008? The fault, dear family members, definitely does not lie in our stars, to borrow the words from William Shakespear,” he said.
He said the fault did not lie in witches and wizards and called on the party members to reflect on their own commissions and omissions that led to the defeat.
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