News:
September 20, 2013
Former Cocobod Chief Executive Officer, Isaac Osei, has told XYZ News that he neither belongs to the Kufuor nor Akufo-Addo camp in the biggest opposition party.
“…I don’t belong to any camp”, he told XYZ News on Thursday but added that: “…There’s nothing wrong with having a Kufuor faction or an Akufo-Addo faction” in the party.
According to him, “definitely you must understand that in many political parties, there are factions”.
The former Ghana High Commissioner to the UK is one of 15 persons rumoured to be nursing a presidential ambition.
Mr. Osei, presently Member of Parliament for Subin, was among 17 contestants that vied for the NPP’s flagbearer slot in 2007 ahead of the 2008 general elections.
He says he remains undecided about whether to contest for the 2016 slot.
He however asserts his neutrality as far as the jostling between the two main factions within the party is concerned.
“…Look I belong to the New Patriotic Party. I don’t belong to an Akufo-Addo camp. Akufo-Addo is a man I’ve known for many many years. I respect him. I respect the vision that he had for our country. It’s a pity that he did not win because I know that the plans he had for our country are solid and are very well reasoned. I sat with him through the manifesto review and I know that he is a leader who would have done a lot for our country”.
As far as former President John Kufuor is concerned, Mr. Osei said he “gave me my opportunities. President Kufuor appointed me as High Commissioner to the UK and brought me back as the Chief Executive of Ghana Cocobod and I believed that I’ve served to the best of my ability. I think Kufuor’s achievement in this country as the most successful liberal democratic leader speaks volumes for itself but neither Akufo-Addo nor Kufuor, I think want people around them to be lackeys. They want people who can speak their minds and that is what I will do”.
He observed that: “The fact that I’m not seen as a member of either [faction] does not mean that there isn’t a core group of people in the NPP who also are in the same position as I am”.
“There are very good people [among] those perceived in the Kufuor camp and there are others also in the Akufo-Addo camp. The most important thing is for us to gel in order to win political power. That’s the usefulness of a political party….factionalism is part of the political process but the factions must work and must gel together once a leader is selected”, he counseled.
Source:yxz