Minority Leader Osahen Alexander Afenyo-Markin says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) must learn from the National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s ability to set aside internal disputes and mobilise behind a common cause if it is to return to presidential and parliamentary power.
Speaking on Asaasepa FM, the Effutu Member of Parliament said the two parties differed most in how they responded to disagreements. While he acknowledged that the NDC faced serious problems within its Majority in Parliament, he said its members were still able to unite when required.
“The difference is, NDC is able to come together and get collective easily. I see a lot of problems among them in the Majority in Parliament because of where I sit. I really see it. However, the moment the bell is rung, they all come together as if there’s no problem,” Mr Afenyo-Markin said.
He argued that this capacity to rally quickly gave the NDC an advantage over the NPP, where divisions were more visible and internal disagreements were less easily resolved.
The former party leader contrasted the NDC’s parliamentary cohesion with what he described as the NPP’s weakness when some of its members become aggrieved.
“If it were the NPP members of Parliament, everyone would see the division. The [aggrieved] member would not come around even if you whip them. That is our weakness,” he said.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said the NPP would not be able to regain power unless it confronted those divisions and developed a stronger way of recovering from conflicts and differences.
His comments focused not on a lack of individual ability within the party, but on the failure to turn that ability into a unified political force. He said the NPP needed to ensure that the talents of its members worked together towards a shared objective.
“We need to work on these so that the individual talents we have would have that collective power to achieve [maximum] impact. And that impact is what will bring us power,” he said.
The Minority Leader’s assessment was that the NPP’s internal disagreements could become politically damaging when they prevented members from acting together. By contrast, he said, the NDC could close ranks once a collective response was required, even when disagreements existed among its members.
Mr Afenyo-Markin therefore called for the NPP to improve its ability to manage internal disputes and rebuild unity after disagreements. In his view, addressing that weakness would be essential if the party’s separate strengths were to produce the collective impact needed to return it to power.
