NPP aspirants intensify campaigns

Aspirants vying for various national positions in the upcoming National Delegates’ Conference of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have intensified their campaigns to win their respective positions.

In all, 42 aspirants, including four national chairman aspirants, seven national vice chair aspirants, two general secretary aspirants, three national organiser aspirants, 14 national Nasara coordinator aspirants, two national women's organiser aspirants and six national treasurer aspirants have gone through vetting.

The vetting precedes the party’s National Delegates’ Conference to be held in Koforidua from July 5 to 7, 2018.

Blay on tour

From Ho in the Volta Region, Tim Dzamboe reports that a national chairman aspirant, Mr Freddie Blay, expressed the optimism of victory with a wide margin, taking into consideration the high level of enthusiasm exhibited by delegates during the campaign tour.

Mr Blay, who is also the acting National Chairman of the party, said he was ready to broaden the frontiers of freedom of expression when elected.

Mr Blay disclosed this during an interaction with a section of the media in Ho during a campaign tour of the region.

The spokesman for the Blay campaign team, Mr Richard Nyamah, said Mr Blay had designed a strategy to make the party enterprising at the constituency level to generate revenue and make it self-financing whether the party was in governance or not.

The strategy includes the procurement of a commercial bus for each of the 275 constituencies under a credit package to be run by a professional transport operator whose transactions will be monitored by a bank on the repayment of the credit, as well as proceeds paid to the constituency.

The campaign team has already met delegates from eight constituencies in the southern sector at Sogakope and six constituencies in central zone in Ho.

ER NPP endorses Awuku

In another development, George Folley reports from  Koforidua that the Eastern regional executives of the NPP have endorsed Mr Sammy Awuku as the next national organiser of the party.

In a statement issued in Koforidua and read at a press conference by the Regional Organiser of the party, Mr Kwame Appiah Kodua, the executives said: "We the regional executives of the NPP in the Eastern Region, having gathered thoughts from the 33 constituencies of the Eastern Region where there is a 100 per cent endorsement chorus for Sammy Awuku in the upcoming NPP national elections, standing indivisible from Afram Plains to Upper Manya Krobo to Abuakwa North to Ofoase Ayirebi, have decided to issue our formal 100 per cent endorsement of Sammy Awuku as the next National Organiser of the NPP."

Proven leadership

According to Mr Kodua, Mr Awuku, apart from showing proven leadership, had also shown in several ways that he had the ability, desire and leadership skills to be “the man we need for election 2020 and beyond”.

"As a communicator, mobiliser and grass-roots person, he has successfully mobilised one of the single most powerful youth revolution in the history of Ghana's election that supervised the 2016 election victory for the NPP. He operated the youth wing of the party as his business, where he and his staff provided a caring, functioning and loving atmosphere for our most vulnerable citizens and the opposition NPP at the time," he added.

Mr Kodua stated: "We speak with first-hand knowledge and conviction of this, as he entirely changed the operations and spirit of the youth organisers at all levels of our party, and we remember how he built the capacities of regional youth organisers in Germany to effect change at the grass roots towards election 2016."

He said as the national executive members had a firm belief that Mr Awuku was the force behind the election 2016 victory, the party would inevitably need him as it moved to enhance its fortunes, consolidate and bring change into the lives of the many expectant Ghanaians and NPP members and sympathisers.

He, therefore, entreated all other regional branches to follow the example of the Eastern regional executives by endorsing Mr Awuku as the next organiser of the NPP.

Women empowerment

Donald Ato Dapatem also reports from Kumasi that an  aspiring National Women Organiser of the NPP, Ms Joyce Konokie Zampare, has stated that her mission and vision are to get party women at all levels empowered to be in good stead economically and politically to work harder to maintain the party in power.

She explained that when the women from the grass roots were empowered economically, politically and socially, they would be able to cater for their families and get their support to actively participate at all levels of decision making in the party.

Ms Zampare, who was speaking to the Daily Graphic in an interview on the sidelines of the launch of the ‘Ampomah Foundation’ in Kumasi, noted that her focus as the National Women Organiser would be to work for the progress, empowerment and development of NPP women from the grass roots to the national level.

She was in Kumasi to lend her support to the Ashanti Regional Women Organiser, Nana Ama Ampomah, who was launching the Ampomah Foundation to support needy, sick and physically challenged persons in the society.

Ms Zampare, who has been a Polling Station Officer, Constituency Women Organiser and Greater Accra Regional Women Organiser for two terms, likened partisan political organisation to a pyramid, with majority of the women at the grass roots. She stated that any party that focused greater attention on the base was really determined to develop the country.

Ms Zampare noted that she was convinced that the strategy to support and empower women would receive the highest support, especially from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, because the President, who has five daughters, held dear the development of women.