Former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye, has urged all potential presidential hopefuls within the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to revive the noble traditions of past party legends by openly sharing their track records and bold visions for Ghana’s future.
At the launch of the NPP Patriotic Institute held at the party’s headquarters, Prof. Oquaye took delegates on a nostalgic journey back to the golden era of Ghanaian politics, when giants like Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, J.B. Danquah, and Simon Diedong Dombo led with integrity, respect, and a shared sense of purpose.
He painted a vivid picture of campaigns run not on mudslinging or division, but on mutual respect and a clear message of service.
Prof. Oquaye recounted “I saw with my eyes, the spirit of respect and cooperation among all of them like Dankwa and Busia and Dumbo did.
Throughout the campaign, nobody said anything untoward about anybody. I can assure you and they went about telling us delegates, I was a delegate a secretary of greater Accra.
“I was the first secretary of greater Accra in the party. Those were honorable men, men, honorable men. One of them is sitting there with honor as our former president.”
Prof. Oquaye highlighted how this spirit of unity was preserved during the 2007 NPP congress in Lagon, a pivotal moment when President John Agyekum Kufuor gracefully handed over the baton.
He praised the mature conduct of key figures like President Nana Akufo-Addo and Hon. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, noting that even candidates who did not win the nomination accepted the results with dignity and rallied behind the party.
He emphasized the importance of aspirants presenting a clear record of their past service and their plans for Ghana’s future.
“I am praying all persons who are possible aspirants let us be as the old patriotic people did. Tell everybody what you yourself have done in your life before, what you have done in the party, and what you will do for Ghana if you should have the luck of being elected presidential candidate of the country,” he urged.
“If we should do that, this party will be successful, Prof Oquaye added.
The former Speaker also warned about the dangers of disunity within the party, citing the 1979 elections as a cautionary tale.
He noted that the division of the party into the PNP and UNC factions led to the loss of power, despite the strong tradition of the Danquah-Busia legacy.
He explained “The cost of disunity. Our party in the year 1979, when we had the elections, that brought the Limann of the PNP to power, was divided into PNP and UNC. I wrote a book on this. You only have to do JSS arithmetic and put the figures together and you will have realized that the election was called up for the Dankwah Busia tradition. But we decided to fight among ourselves and we lost the election.”
Prof. Oquaye made it clear that anyone who acts against the party’s interests should be held accountable and excused from the party’s processes.
“Anyone who pursues the pathway of the mission is not working in the interest of the party and he must be excused. Anybody, anytime, without reference to the party,” he stressed.
Source :www.kumasimail.com Kwadwo Owusu
