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William Deworkpor

New faces to emerge at PPP convention on Saturday

New faces are expected to emerge as national leaders of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) when it holds its National Convention in the Western Regional capital, Takoradi, tomorrow.

Barring any hitches, the PPP will hold its Second National Convention, since its formation in February 2012, to affirm its new national officers to steer the affairs of the party and prosecute its agenda for the 2016 elections.

The convention which is on the theme “Strategise to form Government in 2016” will have about 2,000 delegates participating, five each from the 275 constituencies across the country. Regional and national officers of the party are expected to attend the one-day convention.

 

Convention agenda

The agenda for the convention include the adoption of the 2016 Political Platform, the election of national officers, a discussion on the anti-corruption strategy and the election of MMDCEs and the review of strategies for election 2016.

The national convention is the body mandated to ratify the political platform of the party for any elections. There shall also be representation from constituency, regional, national and Diaspora branches as well as the general membership of the party.

New faces

Positions for grabs by confirmation are the National Chairman, First Vice-Chairman, Second Vice Chairperson; National Secretary and Treasurer.

The rest of the positions which will be filled by appointment are: Youth Coordinator, Women’s Coordinator and Director of Operations.

Some new faces are expected to come on board the national executive positions of the PPP. They include, Murtalla Mohammed who is eyeing the National Secretary position, while Mr William Deworkpor is also set to become the First Vice-Chairman with Ms Belinda Bulley, currently the National Women’s Organiser becoming the Treasurer.  Mr Felix Odrah is also set to become the Second Vice Chairperson.

The party will still be led by Nii Allotey Brew Hammond as the National Chairman.

2016 Campaign

In an interview, the National Chairman of the party, Nii Brew Hammond, told the Daily Graphic that the PPP started its 2016 campaign with a national tour, dubbed “Awake and vote for change.”

He disclosed that the holding of the party’s National Convention was part of a grand strategy to position the party in readiness for election 2016.

At the National Convention, Nii Brew Hammond confirmed  that the 2016 Platform (Constitution) of the party will also be adopted by the over 2000 delegates while the agenda for the election of a flag bearer for the 2016 presidential polls will be unveiled.

Focus of PPP

According to Nii Brew Hammond, the focus of the PPP towards 2016 is to win enough seats in Parliament to hold balance of power.

“At least we are aiming at winning 20 parliamentary seats or more and it is our hope that the people of Ghana will surprise us with more seats,” he stated.

He was confident Ghanaians could do away with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) governance in the 2016 election.

In the view of the National Chairman, the politics of NDC and NPP had brought chaos, and the hope for jobs and decent living were dwindling.

“This assures us that Ghanaians will shift from NDC and NPP politics to embrace and vote for a progressive and peaceful party such as the PPP,” he stated.

He, therefore, urged all PPP members and supporters to continue with the polling station organisation and the community meetings with the electorate to win more apostles of change for the party, saying “The PPP is the party of choice in election 2016.”

He also called on Ghanaians to hold the PPP on issues they could identify themselves with, including accountability, war on corruption and good governance.

Lessons from 2012 elections

The National Chairman said the PPP’s message was to wage a war on poverty to prevent vote buying, since people with economic power could not be induced with money and gifts to vote for a particular party.

He said the PPP would engage the people and make them understand that their needs were met by the government, instead of taking money to vote for parties.

Nii Brew Hammond said the PPP had also realised the high level of mistrust and distasteful language in political discourse and promised to reach out to the people with decorum.

He said the party would also continue its pressure on the government for the implementation of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education, among others.

The current National Secretary, Mr Kofi Asamoah-Siaw, also said that the focus of the PPP in Election 2016 would be to articulate the concerns of the grassrrots and find ways to address them.

He said the party had made the necessary consultations at the grass-roots during a national tour to convince the people about what the PPP could do to salvage the ailing economy and put the smiles back on the faces of disillusioned Ghanaians.

 

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