The former Majority Leader has expressed concerns about what he calls the commercialization of the NPP’s internal structures, stating that the party has been transformed into a “money-making machine.” Speaking on the findings of a fact-finding report regarding the party’s electoral performance in the Ashanti Region, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noted that party members and supporters have raised concerns about the increasing monetization of the NPP’s internal elections.
“Observations coming from all the constituencies in Ashanti, 47 of them, and the people who were sent out interviewed-not only party officers (card-bearing party officers) but they went out there and spoke to supporters, sympathisers of the party and almost everybody that they spoke to with one voice indicated that we need to have a second look at the delegate system in the party,” he said on JoyFM Top Story on Wednesday, February 26.
According to him, the current delegate system, which determines the selection of party executives and candidates, has been heavily influenced by money, leading to voter apathy and division within the party. “The process has become overly monetised, and that has already led to apathy in the party. It needs a complete overhaul,” he stated.
He suggested that one of the key recommendations from the report was to expand voting rights to all registered NPP members instead of limiting the decision-making process to a select group of delegates. “Some of them say that we should go further downstream and enable all NPP members to be part of the voting system in the party whether at the polling station level, area, constituency, regional or national.
“We should open it to everybody. It includes the parliamentary candidates and also the presidential candidates,” he explained. Reflecting on the evolution of the delegate system, he noted that it initially involved offering basic incentives such as food and transportation allowances. However, he lamented that it has now escalated into a full-blown vote-buying culture that undermines the party’s integrity.
“People think that what we are doing now is not serving the interest of the party, it’s causing divisions, it’s causing polarization and people are taking undue advantage, turning the party structures into a money-making machine which is not good for the image of the party,” he said.
His comment comes after a fact-finding report he led, which outlined the key reasons behind the NPP’s electoral loss, especially in its stronghold, the Ashanti Region. The report identified several factors that contributed to the party’s poor performance, notably the leadership style of former President Nana Akufo-Addo. His approach was widely viewed as rigid, overly centralized, and heavily influenced by close family members. Additionally, concerns were raised regarding the method used to select the party’s presidential, parliamentary, national, and regional executives.
By: Prince Adu-Owusu
