PPP elects national executive
Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson
Politics
The newly elected National Chairman of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Nana Ofori Owusu, has said the PPP is the only party that has “a true agenda of change” to transform the fortunes of the country.
“We need selfless leaders who wish to serve and not be served,” he declared.
Speaking at the National Convention of the party in Accra last Saturday, Nana Owusu said the PPP was interested in policies that would have a positive impact on people.
Solutions
“Unlike other political parties, we are not selling an ideological mission to the Ghanaian people but rather practical solutions to the problems of our dear country.
“We believe in the progressive way of thinking and we are pragmatists. Ghanaians want food to eat, homes to live in, good health and safe roads; we want the best of education for our children and we want good jobs,” he said.
‘Failed governments’
Nana Owusu said successive governments, since the overthrow of the first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, had failed the country.
“After the overthrow of Dr Nkrumah, successive governments have been interested not in changing how government is run but to take over the duties of their ‘white’ masters,” he said.
National convention
The venue for the convention was a sea of white and red, as national officers and party faithful, clad in various shades of the PPP colours, sang patriotic and freedom songs.
The convention was on the theme: “Our turn, our time to take power”.
It saw the acclamation of new officers who stood unopposed to steer the affairs of the party for the next four years.
The convention was also to prepare the party for the 2020 general election.
There was a live online platform to enable regional executives of the party across the country, as well as others offshore, to participate to ensure compliance with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) health protocols.
Officers
The elected officers were Nana Ofori Owusu, National Chairman; Felix Ograh, Berlinda Bulley and Ban Saliah, First, Second and Third National Vice chairpersons, respectively.
The immediate past Communications Director of the party, Paa Kow Ackon, is the new National Secretary, with Ms Abena Acheampomaah as Treasurer.
Agenda
The first item on the agenda of the national executive is the election of a presidential candidate to carry the flag of the party in the 2020 elections.
Nana Owusu said the national executive would meet today to open nominations for the flag-bearer position.
“The second agenda is to review the parliamentary candidates and confirm those that we think are credible,” he said.
Former Chairman
A former National Chairman of the PPP, Nii Allotey Brew Hammond, who joined the meeting via Zoom from the United States of America (USA), congratulated the new executives and urged them to work hard for the party.
He said currently the PPP was the third largest political party in the country, but there was the need for improvement.
“With Election 2020 five months away, there is more we can do to move the party from third to first position,” he said.
Analysis
Political parties have had to find innovative ways to conduct their activities due to the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions it has brought about.
Virtual and small meetings have become the new trend in the Ghanaian political space.
Recently, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) had to use its National Council, a body of party officials and other top brass of the party, to affirm President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the party’s flag bearer.
In the past, such an event would have required a mammoth rally attended by members and sympathisers of the party.