Three-time leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Agyekum Kufuor has bemoaned the lack of commitment in his party as compared to what pertained in the past.

He confessed that factionalism has crept into the ruling party and it is gradually dividing its numerical force.

“Some of us feel that practice-wise perhaps the commitment to the liberal democratic principles might not be as pure and the same as it used to be even around 1992,” he intimated to Media General‘s Alfred Ocansey in an exclusive interview broadcast on Thursday.

“Now, I don’t think that commitment is the same.”

The NPP since the former president has won elections twice – in 2016 and 2020.

It will go into the next general elections in 2024 with a fresh candidate.

Already, major internal elections within the party have been held around some aspirants, notably Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Trade Minister Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen.

The party will from Friday, July 15 to Sunday, July 17 scale the last hurdle before it goes for its presidential primary.

Mr Kufuor, who occupies the privileged position of the only former president in the party, says anytime the party goes through a process of selection, there is always an aftermath rift and that does not augur well for its fortunes.

“The way I feel it, I don’t sense same strong commitment in earlier times, almost like a religion, now.

“I sense there is too much talk about factionalism. If you’re talking proper democracy, and an inclusive one, you wouldn’t emphasize factions. Once the practice of say selecting polling station, organizational committee or constituency or national, it wouldn’t be so divisive and emphasizing factions.”

He later observed: “But these days, I get the feeling after we’ve gone through the process of selections, there seems to be a rift that seems to be deepening which shouldn’t be the case.”