In the run-up to the 1996 Presidential Elections, the NPP had elected John Kufuor while NCP (renamed PCP later to be renamed CPP) had elected the sitting Vice President, Neenyi Kow Nkensen Arkaah. To offer a very credible opposition, these two parties went into an alliance (aka Great Alliance) for the purpose. 

The negotiations were led by Ben Joao da-Rocha for the NPP and Al-Hajj Asoma Banda for the PCP. It was long, intense and difficult with each side fighting for the best of the pie. 
The PCP which had 8 MPs and a sitting Vice President as its bargaining chip, fought for the Presidential candidate slot and 50% of parliamentary seats while the NPP without any MPs (they had boycotted the 1992 parliamentary elections). They however had 2 Independent MPs aligned to it and a very loud bandwagon of heavyweight politicians would settle for nothing but the Presidential candidate slot as well as a minimum of 75% of the total parliamentary slots.

As the arguments rolled in an unending manner (lasting several weeks), a frustrated Peter Ala-Adjetey who was the NPP Chairman, told the meeting, “We are not here to share a cake so people can argue for portions. We are fashioning out each party’s share of the parliamentary seats based on our strengths. We are talking about the strength of the parties on the ground. Nothing short, nothing more!” 

Eventually, the NPP got the presidential slot with 55% parliamentary seats while PCP took the running mate and the remainder of the seats to fill. By the time filing at EC was closed, NPP had filed all 200 seats with PCP filing about 130 or so seats. The NPP won 61 with PCP winning 5. Politics!!!!!

Eric Atta-Sonno

My dear friend,

“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.” – George Bernard Shaw

Over the last couple of years, I’ve dedicated a bit of my time to join the struggle of helping to raise the younger generation. This has been to ensure that they are well positioned to take over the reins of this country and improve on its lot.

Being a committed Christian, I have for the better part of my adult life been inspired by the philosophy, ‘Omnibus Omnia Factus Sum’, a Latin phrase adopted from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians 9:22 where he wrote that he became all things to all men that he might save some by all means.

I have therefore, utilized all manner of approaches to help influence positive change in the attitude and orientation of our people for the overall purpose of nation building. To this, I welcome you to my blog. Enjoy my take on issues espoused through the scripts as well as my brief thoughts on issues as they play out daily and news stories on various endeavors that I may play a part in.

Feed back is always critical for improvement and I would thus appeal to you to always leave a note after reading any piece on this blog.

Welcome and enjoy browsing the pages.

Eric Atta-Sonno