Newly elected National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu, says the party’s chairman should focus on serving the organisation rather than automatically assuming the position of party leader.
His comments come after the NPP amended its constitution to make the party’s presidential candidate the leader.
Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, he said all elected executives have specific responsibilities and should work to fulfil the mandate given to them.
“Who is in charge doesn’t really matter. We’re all servants who have been elected to come and serve,” he said.
Mr Boadu said the NPP’s previous constitutional arrangement had served the party since 1992 and maintained that he had expressed his position on the matter at Legon.
He said leadership positions should be defined by the responsibilities attached to them and the ability of officeholders to perform their duties.
“I said that a good chairman doesn’t need to be a leader of the party, and a bad chairman doesn’t deserve to be a leader of the party,” he said.
Mr Boadu also referred to the principle that functioning systems should not be changed unnecessarily.
“Americans always say that if a system is not broken, we don’t fix it. So that thing about making the chairman a leader just because of one person, I felt it was unnecessary, and we shouldn’t have gone there,” he said.
He said his priority would remain carrying out the responsibilities entrusted to him, regardless of whether the NPP is in opposition or in government.
“So whether in opposition or power, my focus is on the job I have been given,” he said.
Mr Boadu added that the party could have retained its previous structures rather than creating the current debate over its leadership arrangement.
“If they had listened to me, we wouldn’t have been here, because the existing party structures were there, and if we’re back to do this, it shouldn’t be a problem at all,” he said.
