Stephen Ayesu Ntim, NPP National Chairman
The National Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Stephen Ayesu Ntim, has urged the rank and file of the party to consider what will be in the interest of the party, by sacrificing personal and individual interests.
He said it is in the general interest of the party to seek the collective welfare of rank and file, adding “collective interests can only be attained if the NPP strives to resolve grievances in an amicable manner”.
Mr Ayesu Ntim made the call during the launch of a commemorative book celebrating the life and legacy of late Baffour Osei Akoto.
The book, which is titled “Baffour Osei Akoto: A royal Patriot and the making of Ghana”, is a collection of speeches and articles by famous speakers about the exploits of the late traditional icon, with particular reference to the annual “Re: Akoto & 7 others Lectures” organised by the Ghana Law School.
The NPP National Chairman also emphasised the need for unity in overcoming herculean challenges facing the NPP as it struggles to ‘break the eight’.
Burden sharing
He called on the rank and file of the party to learn to bear one another’s burden, forgive one another and work diligently to support the government’s efforts at ameliorating the plight of the Ghanaian people.
This, he indicated, will get the majority of the populace to appreciate the immense progress being made in the country under the NPP administration.
“History, they say, has a way of repeating itself. Today is exactly 52 years when His Excellency Mr Edward Akufo-Addo of blessed memory took office on August 31, 1970 as the first, and as it turned out, the last President of the Second Republic, which also happened to be the first government of the UP Tradition, headed by the legendary Dr K A Busia,” he recounted.
“In his first address as President, the late President Akufo-Addo said something as significant in our contemporary politics as it was then. He said: ‘It is not my belief that a legalistic approach to all questions under the constitution is the most useful. It is not my belief that every disagreement under this constitution should be solved only by judicial adjudication, and it is not my belief that any of the men in charge of the several estates will want to take a strictly legalistic stand in this matter’,” he added.
Exemplary lifestyle
Based on this, he said the party is surrounded by the enormous examples of selflessness, patriotism and vision that Okyeame Baffour Akoto and many of NPP’s forebears exhibited.
“Because of those selfless and patriotic deeds, we feel happy celebrating Baffour Akoto’s memory today. During their time in the pre and immediate post-independence era, the political situation in Ghana was quite stormy. Those days one could be cast into prison without knowing their offence, courtesy of the notorious Preventive Detention Act,” he added.
He explained that people like Baffour Akoto could have remained comfortably in the palace and let the politicians do their so-called dirty politics, but instead, he chose the more challenging option of helping to salvage the situation to secure true democracy.
The NPP national chair acknowledged that the philosophy and principles that Baffour Akoto, J B Danquah, S D Dombo, K A Busia, and several others espoused had now become the foundation of Ghana’s democratic society.
He said this had been deepened by the tremendous leadership of J A Kufuor and with the same virtue also reflecting in the gallant effort shown by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
“As we pay homage to Baffour Akoto, the man through whose vision, charisma, respect and devotion the great brains from all walks of life were assembled to give birth to the UP Tradition, which has today given birth to the New Patriotic Party, let us all contemplate what we can also do to propel the progress of our dear country for our generation and those coming after us,” he urged.
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