Elect candidates of merit - President tells NDC delegates
Delegates of the ruling National Democratic Congress in the upcoming primaries should be mindful of who they elect to represent them at the constituency level.
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President John Mahama, who made the call at the Changing Life and Transforming the Nation Forum in the Western Region, said that would ensure that those elected as candidates in the 2016 parliamentary elections were the choice of the people.
Electoral college
He said initially, the electoral college used a few delegates from the branches, which cost the party very dearly as it lost 22 seats in the 2012 elections.
According to him, the electorate must know that there are different classes of voters. Some are members of the political party, supporters, sympathisers and other people who just decide to vote for the party.
“The fact is that, the wider electorate is the entire constituency that is going to vote so the candidate must be selected such that he/she must be accepted by the constituency and the party.”
“The person must not only be a committed and active member of the party, but must also be electable by the whole constituency to represent them in Parliament and, therefore, you must look at all those attributes when making a choice,” he said.
Right direction
The primaries, he added, could be likened to an election before the general election, “therefore the move is in the right direction. Let’s try it; it might not be perfect but it might be the first start and we will fine-tune it, going forward.”
The President also said even though under the current expanded college delegates were not supposed to show evidence of membership with good standing or fully paid membership, it would be a prerequisite with time.
He urged the people to ensure that the party’s hallmark of civility was exhibited. “Everybody who was vetted should have the opportunity to campaign and we must all remember that at the end of the process, only one out of the number of candidates contesting would emerge the winner,” he said.
“I urge all contesting candidates that if you lose, rally behind the winning candidate,” he said.
Presidential primary
The President said even though he was the only candidate contesting the presidential primary, it was important for him to interact with the rank and file of the party who continually supported him .
The President revealed that the current focus of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was to go beyond the Better Ghana Agenda to changing the lives of the people and transforming Ghana to full a middle-income country.
The NDC, he said, in its manifesto, set for itself specific areas such as education, power, health and other forms of infrastructure where they wanted to show visible progress.
Education
In the area of education, he said the party’s focus was to improve access, which has resulted in the setting up of community day schools by the government.
He said out of the 200 community day schools promised, 123 had been awarded on contract.
“We might not have achieved 200 schools yet but the four years is not over,” Mr Mahama said.
He said it was gratifying to note that some of the schools had been completed and handed over to the communities.
“I can report to you that after the inauguration of the Otuam Community Day School, the school authorities have received 1,500 applications from students who have not been able to access secondary education,” he said.
In realistic terms, President Mahama said 240,000 students who would have struggled to get admission would now be admitted by the community schools.
Healthcare & water
The President also enumerated projects undertaken in the water and health sectors and said they were a testimony of the government’s resolve to keep faith with the people.
NPP’s ‘Rise and Build’
The president commented on Nana Akufo-Addo’s ‘Rise and Build’ campaign.
“People say they are now rising and building. We are building already,” he said.
The President urged party executive members not to be detracted by the moves by other political parties and indicated that the NDC was moving forward with the transformational agenda.
