News desk report
Frontrunner for the Ashanti Regional New Patriotic Party (NPP) chairmanship, Odeneho Kwaku Appiah (Asanteman COKA), has called on members of the BASE movement and other disgruntled NPP members to abandon their current path and return to the party insisting no breakaway group has ever succeeded against the NPP.
Odeneho Kwaku Appiah made the call while commenting on the activities of the BASE movement in the Ashanti Region in an interview with Hello fm in kumasi.
He acknowledged the constitutional right of members to associate freely but stressed that history does not favour those who choose to fight the NPP from the outside.
“We cannot force people to still belong to NPP. In fact, there is freedom of association in our 1992 constitution, but the truth is that no breakaway party or group has ever succeeded.”
” Look, Charles Wereko Brobbey years back broke away from NPP to form United Ghana Movement (UGM). It did not work, and he later came back to NPP.”
COKA said the right approach for members with grievances is to remain in the party and help fix what is broken from within.
He said, “If you belong to a family and you have issues with one or two members of the family, it doesn’t mean you should break away. You should rather remain and help correct the mistakes. One day, it will be your turn.”
Drawing on the experiences of those who have gone before, COKA said he has seen many people regret leaving the NPP or their mother Party to join other political groups.
He added that: “I don’t want to mention names, but I know many people who left to join other political groups when they were not happy with some issues in NPP, and today they have regretted.”
He particularly directed his message at the youth, urging them not to be swayed by movements that could derail their political futures.
COKA was firm in his position, saying, “The NPP is the biggest political movement in Ghana. You cannot fight it and win. The party belongs to all of us.”
He said his door remains open to those willing to return and encouraged all to engage the party constructively rather than from the outside.
” When l am elected as chairman of our great party in the region, l will engage all NPP members who are involved in the base movement and others who are disgruntled to see how to convince them back to NPP. “
