Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, a former minister of environment, science, technology, and innovation, has expressed his concerns about the New Patriotic Party (NPP), charging that they have strayed from their commitment to national development and instead have delivered a government that is more like a “family, friends, and concubines government.”
NPP, HOW DID WE GET HERE? is the headline of an opinion piece by Professor Frimpong-Boateng. It was noted that a group within the NPP possesses considerable authority to the point that one of them is referred to as the “de facto Prime Minister” of the nation while holding no official political appointments or posts within the party structure.
He points out that these people are capable of securing powerful positions in society for their friends and allies, but they also have a tendency to treat others disrespectfully and make things difficult for them.
According to him, this stark departure from the traditional values of the NPP is worrying.
Frimpong Boateng further observed that Ghana is experiencing a form of governance characterized by the control of the media not through violence but through bribery and intimidation.
“There are people who claim to be stalwarts of the party; they have neither political appointments nor positions in the party structure. They appear to wield so much power that one of them is described as ‘de facto Prime Minister’ of the country. Apparently, they have what it takes to get their friends and favourites appointed to prominent and powerful positions in society. At the same time, they have the tendency to disrespect and make life difficult for Ghanaians. This is unlike the NPP we know. NPP, HOW DID WE GET HERE?”
“We are being served with a variation of “family, friends, and concubines government”, and control of the press not through violence but through bribery and intimidation. We are witnessing the weaponization of state institutions to silence transformative voices while allowing patronized corruption to flourish. Instead of development in freedom, we are witnessing unprecedented intimidation, economic retrogression, and suffering in silence. NPP, HOW DID WE GET HERE?”
“To make matters worse, the ‘NPP establishment’ is busy promoting a presidential candidate, who to my mind is the most vulnerable and has more baggage than all the aspirants. It is like shopping for a problem when they already have an answer.”
