NPP inaugurates elections review committee

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has inaugurated a 10-member committee to undertake an independent review of the 2016 elections.

The committee, chaired by Dr Poku Adusei, is tasked to provide a detailed and honest analysis of the structures and operations of the party’s 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections at all levels countrywide.

Task

 Addressing a press conference in Accra, the acting General Secretary, Mr John Boadu, said the Poku Adusei Committee was to produce a clear, concise and detailed report to form the basis for the party’s campaign and strategise to win the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.

The committee is also tasked to provide an objective review of the current state of the party.

Submission of report

The committee has been given six weeks to submit its report to the leadership of the party through the general secretary.

Inaugurating the committee, Mr Boadu said the high ranking of Ghana’s democracy which had become very enviable across the globe was partly as a result of the NPP’s continuous propagation of best political practices.

 According to him, the NPP as a liberal conservative party believed that its internal democracy would thrive only in an enabling environment and that it was only on that basis that the party would continue to be attractive to all. 

Critical review

He said the party took cognisance of the fact that every political programme required a critical review after the expiration of the execution period.

It was not surprising, he said,  that at the inception of the Fourth Republican Constitution, when the party believed that the 1992 presidential election was rigged, it did a review of the election and came up with the popular “Stolen Verdict.”

The acting general secretary said the party did the same for the 1996 presidential and parliamentary elections and the lessons learnt and mistakes corrected catapulted the party into winning the 2000 elections overwhelmingly. ’

It said the Heymann Committee of 2008 reviewed why the NPP lost the 2008 election and some of the recommendations resulted in the amendments to the party’s constitution in 2009 and that the 2012 elections were reviewed as well. 

Committee members

Mr Boadu said it was, therefore, based on the review of the 2012 elections that the party won the 2016 parliamentary and presidential elections.

He said the party would not rest on its oars, necessitating the formation of the Poku Adusei Committee to undertake a review of the 2016 general election. Other members of the committee are Mr Evans Nimako, Dr Ohene  Konadu,  Ms Joyce Opoku Boateng, Ms Rita Asobayere and Mr Alhassan Suleman

The rest are Mr Nelson Ansah, Mr Kusi Boafo, Mr Osei Agyei and Mr Mark Bediako.