Don’t campaign at NPP conference - National Council
Ahead of the 2017 National Annual Delegates’ Conference of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Cape Coast this weekend, the party has served a warning to prospective candidates for various executive positions in the party to desist from displaying their campaign posters and banners or face the wrath of the party.
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The national council of the party has, therefore, warned that the party reserves the right to “reprimand or sanction anyone who flouts this directive.”
Addressing a press conference on the state of preparedness for the conference at the party headquarters in Accra yesterday, the acting General Secretary of the NPP, Mr John Boadu, said the national council had noticed with concern, the rate at which prospective candidates for various executive positions in the party wantonly displayed their campaign posters and banners at the just ended constituency and regional delegates conferences.
That development, he said, tended to create the impression that the party was holding internal elections, which was not the case.
The national council, he said, therefore, wished to remind prospective candidates that the party had not lifted the ban on campaign.
Ban on campaign not lifted
“The council wishes to remind them that the party has not lifted the ban on campaign; neither has it opened nominations. In view of the foregoing, the party is appealing to all prospective candidates to desist from repeating this undemocratic and untidy enterprise at the national delegates’ conference. The party reserves the right to reprimand or sanction anyone who flouts this directive,” Mr Boadu stressed.
Throwing light on the conference itself, Mr Boadu said this year's conference, which coincides with the 25th anniversary of the NPP and 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), was anchored on the theme, "NPP, Delivering on Our Promises; Our Roots, Our Strength, Our Future".
Clearly, he said, the choice of the theme was to afford an opportunity to reflect on the very core values underpinning the formation of the NPP and assess the extent to which the party had remained focused on those founding principles with the view to learning any relevant lessons to serve as a guide for the future.
He said 25 years of the existence of an organisation and for that matter a political party was certainly, not a small feat, particularly when the party had chalked up tremendous achievements.
“Almost everybody agrees that the NPP's immense contribution to the social, political and economic development of this country over the past two to three decades cannot be exaggerated. We are credited with the introduction of almost all the monumental social interventions in the country, including the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), capitation grant, metro mass transport, school feeding programme, livelihood empowerment against poverty (LEAP). The list is endless,” he said.
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Again, Mr Boadu said the NPP had been at the forefront of almost every progressive development across all sectors and in the delivery of prosperity to the Ghanaian people and also led the way in areas of good governance and the consolidation of the country's democracy with the party’s unrivalled democratic credentials.
“The NPP way, has thus, always been the way for Ghana and the rest of Africa,” he stressed.
According to Mr Boadu, it was, therefore, not surprising that anytime the NPP was in power, Ghanaians heaved a great sigh of relief and had their hopes restored.
NPP @ 25
At 25, he said the party had a lot to celebrate, especially now that it was in government and had shown enough commitment to delivering on the mandate to the Ghanaian people.
“As we speak, the Nana Addo-led NPP government has made the strongest commitment yet to fulfilling all our manifesto promises even in our first year, including the almighty free SHS, one-district, one-factory, one-village, one-dam, planting for food and jobs, one million dollar per constituency fund, restoration of teacher and nursing trainee allowance among several others. You can imagine what the narrative would be, by the time we finish our first four years in office. You can only find this in the NPP,” he maintained.
Mr Boadu said the conference would be held at the Medical School Auditorium of the University of Cape Coast in the Central Region.
Delegates
Delegates to the conference, per the provision of Article 9(2)(ii) of the party’s constitution, included members of the national council members of the national executive committee, all members of the regional executive committee, all members of the constituency executive committee, 15 members from the national council of elders, 12 delegates from every external branch as defined under section 8(2) of the party’s constitution, one Tescon representative from each recognised tertiary institution in the country, 15 patrons elected from among themselves, founding members across the country who are signatories to the registration documents of the party at the Electoral Commission, all Members of Parliament (MPs) and all party members who are ministers, deputy ministers and MMDCEs.
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On the first day of the conference, Friday, August 25, he said, there would be Muslim Prayers (Jummah) during the day and some social events in the evening.
The second day, Saturday, August 26, would be for the main conference to be held at the medical school auditorium of the university.
The conference, he explained, per Article 9(4) of the party’s constitution, shall deliberate and make appropriate resolutions on the National Chairman’s report, the National Treasurer’s Statement of Accounts, the General Secretary’s report, deliberate on resolutions from all the 10 regions and also consider proposals for amendments to the party’s constitution which had been received and circulated to all stakeholders.
The main conference will end at 4 p.m. followed by a rally at the Victoria Park in Cape Coast to be addressed by the leadership of the party, His Excellency the President and his Vice, ministers of state and other key government appointees.
On Sunday, August 27, the third day, he said, there would be Thanksgiving church service to be observed at the Calvary Methodist Church, Cape Coast.