NPP youth group calls for calm

As the National Council (NC) of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) meets tomorrow to take a second look at the affirmative action the party intends to push in its parliamentary primaries, a  group calling itself the NPP Youth for Affirmative Action (NPP YfAA) has called on all party faithful to exercise restraint and support the decision the Council would arrive at.

According to the group, the decision of the party to reserve some selected seats for the female aspirants in the party, as well as give a rebate to youth, women and the physically challenged, was appropriate and needed to be endorsed.

At a press conference held in Accra last Friday, the spokesperson of the group, Mr Pius Enam Hadzide, said the group believed that NEC’s decision showed that the NPP was in support of the women’s empowerment.

“A bold and emphatic statement has been made that the NPP is the only pro-youth, pro-women and pro physically challenged party in Ghana,” he said.

Wrong interpretation of decision 

Explaining further, he said the decision had been interpreted wrongly by some party members who had painted a misleading picture about it.

 He said it was also wrong for some members of the party to resort to violence to register their displeasure.

“We believe that these ingenious decisions unfortunately  misconstrued and misinterpreted have led to some form of misunderstanding.

But the use of violence and threats of violence and intimidation and the penchant to run to the media over disagreements are alien to our democratic culture,” Mr Hadzide said. 

He stated, however, that the decision was well accepted by majority of grass-roots members of the party who had remained  silent on the issue to allow peace and decorum to prevail in the party.

Mr Hadzide further stated that the interest of the party had to come first before individual affairs. He added that there were many other ways by which people could serve the party other than contesting the female aspirants for parliamentary seats, saying “there are other opportunities for willing and capable members to serve the party and country”.

He reiterated that the NEC of the party should be firm in their decision and ensure its fruition as it was a positive step that would increase the chances of ensuring the party’s victory in 2016.