NPP delegates conference: Speakers call for unity

Speakers at the just-ended national delegates conference of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Kumasi have called for unity and the closing of ranks to enable the party retain power in 2024.

They, therefore, urged members of the party to gird their loins towards the election and take nothing for granted.

They also urged government appointees to close the gap between them and the electorate as part of the strategies of “breaking the eight”.

The speakers were the National Chairman, Mr Freddie Blay; the General Secretary, Mr John Boadu, and the National Treasurer, Mr Kwabena Abankwa-Yeboah.

Blay

Mr Blay said the party could win the 2024 elections hence the need for its appointees to work with party members at the lower level to remain in governance in the next four years.

“Make no mistakes, don’t take anything for granted. We are up against a very formidable foe. Naturally, they will resort to anything, but if we are united, selfless and eschew arrogance, those of us particularly in a position that we have been appointed; if we work with the people, if we keep touch with our base, if we get a party behind us, come 2024, we shall remain in power and raise the level,” he stated.

Mr Blay explained that the conference was to consult among delegates, to network and to prepare the party for victory.
“We need to ginger ourselves irrespective of our agitations, irrespective of lies, irrespective of deliberate distortions of what we are doing,” he said.

General Secretary

Giving his annual report, Mr Boadu said “There is absolutely no doubt that our victory in 2024 where we seek to break the eight years in government cycle shall depend largely on the kind of relationship that exists between party and government,” he said.

According to him, “any gap in this relationship or disconnect between the party on one hand and the government on the other hand, shall be detrimental to our electoral fortunes.”

The General Secretary explained that the disconnect between the party and the government had been the bane for parties in government losing elections.

He thus called for regular meetings between the MPs, district chief executives and the people to bridge that gap and work towards retaining the party in power.

He said soured relationship was one of the reasons why the party lost some of its seats, and he was of the view that for the party to break the eight, some of those issues ought to be looked at.

He thus charged government appointees, Chief Executive Officers, Ministers and DCEs “who have been put in charge of the public purse and are expected to have answers, to play a leading role in communicating government policies and programmes as the party supports them in the delivery of these policies.”

Good story

Mr Boadu said the NPP government had a good story to tell and it was incumbent on the party to spread the good news and get the people to know about it.

He charged the party members to tell the good story of the government at every opportunity they had to let the good policies of the government be known.

He said allowing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to come back to power would lead to the collapse of all social intervention policies initiated by the government.

Mr Boadu, therefore called on Ghanaians to help sustain the gains made through these social interventions and help retain the NPP and break the eight.

Internal elections

Mr Boadu said the party would soon come out with rules and regulations to govern the internal elections and asked all party members to fully abide by the rules and regulations.

“It is envisaged that all things being equal, we will hold our polling stations, electoral areas, constituency, regional and national elections from January to June next year,” he said.

Treasurer

For his part, the National Treasurer of the party, Mr Kwabena Abankwa-Yeboah, said that through prudent management, the party had made some financial gains and increased its balance sheet from that of last year.

He said the party spent more than GH¢10.2 million on the last parliamentary and presidential elections and also purchased some hygiene and personal protection items for distribution to the various party offices during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

He said the annual thanksgiving service organised by the party cost GH¢1.4 million and added that it supported needy people to the tune of GH¢955,000.00.

He said the party also made a donation of GH¢50,000.00 to the National Cathedral fund raising committee and at the end of the year, it had a balance sheet of GH¢9.5 million.

Mr Abankwa-Yeboah expressed his appreciation to the party and its supporters for offering him the opportunity to serve the party for seven and half years.