?WE are have today in Sunyani, capital of Brong-Ahafo, birthplace of Kofi Busia, of most blessed memory to sign a pact with Destiny. Destiny demands that we choose here not only the man who will be our flagbearer in the great electoral battle of 2000, but also the next President of the 4th Republic. The masses of our people seek deliverance from mismanagement of the Rawlings administration, and see in our Party the peaceful instrument of their deliverance.
?Can we in the NPP rise to the challenge and serve their needs? Can we then put behind us the era of defeats and disappointments, the era of dejections and frustrations, the era of excuses and explanations for failures of leadership, and become winners for a change? For my part, I am confident that we can say a firm yes, yes we can rise to the challenge and yes we can become winners this time.?
The NPP delegates agreed with the above opening lines of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo?s party conference speech in 1998. Notwithstanding, the delegates voted not for the messenger but John Agyekum Kufuor. He, in turn, returned the vote of confidence by winning two consecutives victories for the NPP ? 2000, 2004. Clearly Kufuor, whose second and final term ends in 2008, has, in the words of his main contender in 1998, proven to be the most successful leader of the Danquah-Busia political tribe – two victories and a superior good governance platform for his successor to build upon.
But, looking at the current state of the ruling party ? weak structures, dispirited activists – it would be difficult to argue that the Party heeded to Nana Akufo-Addo?s very next message in that leadership contest speech:
Source: GhanaWeb
