The blame game has started amongst members of the NPP who lost an election they never thought they would lose. A leading member of the party, Musah Superior, blames the loss of the party on the lackluster attitude of the party’s national executive. In a statement to the media, he said poor planning and complacency on the part of the executive led to the painful loss of the party. Below is the statement published by The Chronicle newspaper. It is evident that the bizarre electoral defeat the NPP suffered in the December 28 run-off is as a result of ineffectiveness, incompetence and complacency that characterised the activities of the party and the planless regime throughout the elections campaign. The inability of our executive to manage the party's parliamentary primaries led to a drastic reduction in the number of our seats in the legislature and the subsequent defeat of the party in the presidential elections. Some members of the party rebelled against the party and contested the Parliamentary polls as independent candidates due to the inability of the National Executive to manage the primaries professionally and democratically. Some of us were increasingly concerned about the chaotic manner in which the primaries were handled and voiced out our concerns which was ignored and treated with disdain. I am extremely angry that the leadership of the Party undermined the determination and vigor of the NPP and Nana Addo to win the just ended polls. Aside this, they also failed to marshal a plan to keep the party structures at all levels working. From top to down, the Party was confused and had no clue. At the constituency level, it was pathetic to understand that there was no strategy whatsoever to keep our base and galvanize more support and votes for the party. Massive corruption was the order of the day as funds meant for the campaign was diverted into the pockets of some National, Regional and constituency officers. In Tamale and other constituencies in the Northern Region, we miserably failed to devise appropriate and welcoming strategies to swing the votes. Voter apathy crept in deeply as party activists had lost interest in the elections. In fact signs of our defeat were starring us in the face and I expected the Mac Manu-led executives to act with some sense of urgency in restoring the hopes of activists who lost trust and confidence in the entire leadership of the party including some non-executives who worked closely with the Presidential candidate to avert the attendant tendencies of the voter apathy that griped our party. They arrogantly turned down all these signs thinking it was going to be a rosy fight. We lost the election because we lacked a plan and co-ordination between the National Executives, the regional executives, the constituency executives and foot soldiers. Access to information on the campaigns was virtually absent. The party headquarters also failed to put in place adequate organizational plan and facilities to monitor campaigning at the regional and constituency levels making it impossible to correct the lapses of the campaign and on the voting day. On this note I call on the entire National Office holders to step aside and allow for caretaker team to take charge of the affairs of the Party before we choose the next team in August to run the affairs of the Party. This will save the Party from further deterioration and extinction. If by the close of January 2009 the leadership refuses to step aside, I shall mobilize the youth and women to stage continuous protest against them until they do the right thing and pack bag and baggage. I take this opportunity to commend Nana Akufo-Addo and some members of his team for their determined fight. "You have demonstrated your determination and resoluteness in the course of the campaign to win. The closeness of the contest confirms your strength and zeal". Signed: Musah Superior