The former Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has appealed to the rank and file of the New Patriotic Party to close their ranks and forge ahead in unity.
He said the time had come for the party to bring to an end, the internal attacks which continued to divide them along the lines of factions.
“Too often, when we are yet to choose our leaders, indiscipline, unacceptable language, and unpardonable behaviour become the order of the day. In the end, when internal competitions are over, the attacks we have launched on ourselves become further ammunition which our opponents use against us,” he said.
Recalling the party’s poor showing during the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, he said internal disagreements and acrimony during the party’s primaries gravely affected the fortunes of the candidate.
“In the end, when internal competitions are over, the attacks we have launched on ourselves become further ammunition which our opponents use against us. We experienced it in the 2024 campaign, and we should not let it happen a second time. This is why I call on all ‘kukrudites’ to stop internal attacks now. Let’s stop the internal attacks now,” Dr Bawumia admonished.
Dr Bawumia, who was the flag bearer for the party in the 2024 general elections, also appealed to high-ranking officials within to refrain from attacking one another during internal elections and rather focus their attention on how to recapture power in future elections.
He noted that such attacks were not only bad, but could be exploited by opponents during general elections, stressing that, “During the 2024 general elections, the NPP faced challenges as their rivals, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), used these internal conflicts to undermine the NPP’s image, which contributed to the NDC winning the presidency.”
Dr Bawumia said issues of tribalism and religious bigotry, from any source, posed an existential threat to the party and should not be tolerated moving forward.
He explained that as the party prepared towards its internal elections, members should be mindful of their actions and inactions, since the party would have to be united as they prepared themselves to recapture power in the 2028 election.
He once again called on the government to arrest and prosecute perpetrators of the electoral violence in the rerun of the Ablekuma North election.
“I again call on His Excellency the President, to bring the perpetrators to book and to remind them that the elephant never forgets, no matter how long it takes, we will prosecute the perpetrators when we assume office in 2029.
“We must also be consistent in pursuance of our effort to address not just the challenges within but more importantly, the challenges that bedevil our motherland,” Dr Bawumia said.
