NPP ADVISED TO RETAIN BAWUMIA (PAGE 12, DEC 13, 2010)

SOME supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions have warned the NPP of more breakaways in the party if Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is not retained as the party’s vice-presidential candidate for the 2012 elections.
According to them, Dr Bawumia controlled a significant constituent in the party which cut across the ethnic divide in the three regions of the north and, therefore, failure to retain him could bring about disenchantment among those supporters.
Addressing a press conference in Tamale, the supporters, led by a businessman and prominent member of the NPP in the north, Mr Edward Kodo Gumah, stated that there were some underhand dealings to discredit Dr Bawumia and blame him for the party’s woes in the previous elections.
He said Dr Bawumia was not the cause of the party’s failure to retain power in the 2008 elections and that, contrary to such views, Dr Bawumia was a key contributor to the party’s campaign.
“Dr Bawumi was very instrumental in securing funds for our campaign activities nationwide and this helped us reach our people in various remote areas,” the supporters stated.
They also mentioned that Dr Bawumia was partly responsible for the NPP’s victory in some of the constituencies in the north, such as Lawra, Paga and Jirapa-Lambuisi, adding that several more constituencies would be won by the NPP if he was retained.
Mr Gumah and his people argued that Dr Bawumia was the right person to partner Nana Akufo-Addo in the 2012 elections because he stood tall among the names that had been proposed for running mate.
“Having partnered Nana in the previous election, Dr Bawumia has nurtured some political maturity and savvy to enable him to canvass for more votes for the party in the next elections,” he noted.
They further observed that Dr Bawumia, as a personality, was more marketable than any of the other individuals who were being touted as better running mates for Nana.
They said the NPP was poised for victory if it retained Dr Bawumia who, together with Nana, secured over 49 per cent of the votes in the 2008 presidential run-off, even though they succumbed to Prof John Evans Atta Mills.
On the factors that accounted for the party’s loss in 2008, the NPP activists mentioned disunity as one of them, adding that the disagreements among some key members of the party resulted in some of the party’s parliamentary candidates opting to stand as independent candidates.
They said the disunity was so pervasive that some persons in the party campaigned against the party’s presidential candidate and other parliamentary candidates, thereby reducing the party’s vote margin.
They also disclosed that money that was meant for campaign was sometimes diverted by some bigwigs in the party, thereby starving the grass-roots campaigners of adequate funds for their activities.