Businessman launches campaign for Npp organiser
A business executive aspiring to become the Eastern Regional Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Kwame Appiah Kodua, has launched his campaign in Koforidua.
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Addressing the Eastern Regional press corps and party faithful in Koforidua, he said since unity among the various ethnic groups within the party was the only panacea for an NPP victory, he would come out with a strategy to unite party members.
He explained that although the NPP was a formidable political body, lack of unity among the various ethnic groups in the past nine years had been the bane of the party, resulting in its defeat in 2008 and 2012.
“We lost the two previous elections because of disunity among party members based on ethnocentrism and this is what I will be focusing on with a new strategy to unite the rank and file and strengthen the party in the region to win 65 per cent of the popular votes”, he said.
The NPP won 43.60 per cent of the popular votes in the Eastern Region in the 1996 elections; 52.97per cent in 2000; 63.50 per cent in the (run-off) the same year; 60.30 per cent in 2004; 57.40 in 2008, 57.47 (run-off) the same year and 56.91per cent in 2012.
Although the region, which is mostly inhabited by Akans, is a stronghold of the NPP, constituencies in the non-Akan areas such as Yilo Krobo, Lower Manya Krobo, Upper Manya Krobo, Upper West Akyem and others in the Kwahu North (Afram Plains) have always been the Achilles' heel of the party since 1996, as the NPP loses there.
It is in this respect that Mr Appiah Kodua has emphasised the need for unity among the various ethnic groups so that the party will attract additional votes, especially from the non-Akan areas, to further improve the fortune of the party in the region to boost its chances of winning the 2016 elections.
Asked about other initiatives that he would undertake to make the NPP stronger in the region, Mr Appiah Kodua said he would, among others, establish an operational fund for its organisation and roll out a well-structured and co-ordinated door-to-door campaign with an aggressive and attractive message that would win the hearts of most voters. Apart from that, he intends to recruit, screen and train vibrant party agents for the 2016 polls.
According to him, since the party needs vibrant leaders to steer it to victory in the next elections, there was the need for blending old and new executives who would come out with new ideas in that respect.
Mr Appiah Kodua, who toured almost all the constituencies in the region to drum home the need to vote for him, was hopeful that he would be victorious in the upcoming regional congress to implement his strategies to win more votes at the 2016 polls.
Mr Appiah Kodua is a founder member of the Tertiary Students Confederation (TESCON), a wing of the NPP in tertiary institutions in the country.
He holds a certificate in Marketing and Public Relations from the University College of Management Studies, Kumasi and a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Studies from the University of Cape Coast. He rose through the ranks from being a ward organiser of the party in Begoro Zongo (Fanteakwa Constituency) from 1992 to 1995 to occupy various positions in the party, becoming the constituency organiser from 2009 to date.
Mr Appiah Kodua is married with four children.