THE PROGRESSIVE People’s Party (PPP) has said that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) won the 2016 elections by default and not because they offered the best policies and people during the electioneering campaign.
The National Chairman of the PPP, Dr. Nii Allotey Brew Hammond, said this when he addressed the media at the Party’s Headquarters in Accra on Monday, saying “we know that some people will disagree, particularly those who have received these election as “gifts”, but insisted that the facts on the ground are indisputable.
Dr. Brew-Hammond explained that the 2016 election campaign and results have proven the point that Ghanaians wanted an alternative to the political parties that have won elections since the beginning of the Fourth Republic but they want to see a united front that is formidable and the one they can feel can win elections.
According to him, based on this assertion, the leadership of PPP had met and agreed to invite like-minded progressive political parties and individuals to discuss and reach agreement to forge an alternative to the NPP and the NDC to contest election 2020 and beyond.
The National Chairman of the PPP opined that the leadership of the party and its teeming supporters believes that it is only by bringing forces together that the dominance of the NPP and NDC duopoly can be broken.
“The PPP believes in an unconditional approach. Accordingly, it is open to alliance, merger and any joint action that will enable the winning of parliamentary seats and the presidency” he added.
Dr Brew-Hammond further explained that the party believes alternating power between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the NPP while implementing essentially the same policies and winner-takes-all attitude to governing the country will not strengthen our economy and improve the standard of living of the ordinary Ghanaian.
He reiterated that the PPP was formed as a movement and wants to stay open to ideas and principles and not be fixated on names, symbols, colours and personalities. Adding the National Committee has authorized party leaders to approach other political parties, pressure groups and individuals with the aim of bringing forces together to forge a united front in the shortest possible time.
“There are many reasons why this has become an urgent matter at this time. Indeed, the 2008 elections gave this same indication that the people wanted change but felt their choice of the change agent was limited. A lot of Ghanaians do not believe that elections will bring about any real changes to their lives. The Presidential and Parliamentary elections have become four-year events. Many ordinary Ghanaians knowing that after they vote, nothing positive will come their way demand what they can get from candidates and political parties before they cast their votes – cash, clothes, electronic gadgets, food, electricity, roads (no matter how shoddy), water, etc. It is for this reason that rural electrification projects, real and not real are staged during campaign periods. This accounts for the distribution of laptops to students, vehicles to traditional authorities, heavy donations to churches, T-shirts and other such items. Signs threatening “light or no vote”, “water or no vote” and “road or no vote” all point to the fact that the people have realized that they only seem to have power before and not after elections”. He lamented.
According to him this situation, is what the PPP want a united front of like-minded people to change by coming together to offer change the people can feel after elections.
“What has happened since the 2016 election tells us that Ghanaians stand the real chance of being disappointed once again, so we do not want to wait until election time to start pulling like-minded forces together. We want to stand together, now, united to offer disciplined, objective opposition and prove to the people that there is a better choice out there” the PPP National Chairman stated emphatically.
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