Spread good works of NPP – Kufuor urges party members

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has urged members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to be agents of the party by telling the government’s success stories.

“If we do not trumpet our achievements, no one will tell them for us,” he said in an address at the NPP’s National Delegates Conference in Accra last Sunday.

He said successive New Patriotic Party (NPP) governments were what would push Ghana forward into the ranks of the developed nations in the world.

According to him, he had observed during his long presence in politics that Ghanaians loved the NPP and shared in the party’s vision for development.

Mr Kufuor was of the view that members of the NPP needed to constantly remind Ghanaians of the party’s good works.

Voters register

The Majority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, stated that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) cannot win any elections with a new voters’ register.

That, he said, had warranted the NDC’s opposition to the Electoral Commission’s call for a new voters’ register.

“Just as they did in the case of the referendum, they are doing the same with the voters’ register. A register both parties acknowledge is bloated, now they are against a new one by the EC.

“ They are doing this because they know they will never win an election in this country with a new register. So can Ghanaians trust these people? We in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) should be careful of them,” the Suame MP said.

The conference was on the theme  “We have performed better – 4 more to do more”.

Appropriation bill

He said Parliament would today seal the 2020 budget with the approval of the Appropriation Bill.

He commended President Akufo-Addo for cleaning up the banking sector of ponzi schemes

Mr Kyei-Mensah Bonsu said the selection of party officers especially parliamentary candidates must not be solely by elections.

According to him, other avenues should be considered by the party.

NDC

In a solidarity message at the conference, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) urged the ruling NPP to prepare its handing over notes as the nation entered election year in 2020.

According to the NDC, whose message was read by a former head of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr Sylvester Mensah, it was an act of courage by the ruling party to hold a national delegates conference at Christmas when the majority of Ghanaians were suffering.

“We commend you for organising a national delegates conference  when many Ghanaians are having a very dry Christmas, a wahala Christmas. Ghanaians are suffering, teachers are suffering, nurses are suffering and the Vice President is suffering.

“Our politics should be a contest of ideas and not to tear this country down. No party in opposition should wish failure of a party in government. Because when they succeed the people of Ghana are better for it and the country is the winner,” he stated.

He said “If the free SHS succeeds it only helps the next NDC government to come and manage it well for the people of Ghana” .

He said the country had witnessed mass exiting of Ghanaians from jobs in the public sector just because they professed political philosophies other than he NPP.

Mr Mensah said press freedom was under siege as the continued closure of media houses perceived to be sympathetic to the NDC was a blot on the country’s democracy and undermined tolerance and freedom of expression.

NDP

The National Democratic Party (NDP) applauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for  rolling out the various social intervention programmes, particularly the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS).

The party said the commitment, sincerity and determination of President Nana Akufo-Addo for free SHS “as a qualification for one who has paid heed with insight and appreciation”

“Mr President, the NDP says kudos and declare our full support for the free SHS as our own,” the General Secretary, Mr Mohammed Frimpong, said when he delivered the NDP’s solidarity speech at the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) National Delegates Congress held in Accra yesterday.

He said the government had so far demonstrated commitment to enormous social interventions such as the free SHS, among others, which “is a fair check on the temptation to corruption”

Aborted referendum

Touching on the aborted referendum, Mr Frimpong said it was sad that the amendment to article 55(3) of the Constitution that would allow political parties to participate in district level elections had to be stopped.

He said President Akufo-Addo’s commitment to the referendum would have been a remedy to the country’s “lame and sluggish governance in our communities”.

“We commend the President on his initiative and wish to say even though the bill has been withdrawn it should not be abandoned,” Mr Frimpong said. 

CPP

For its part, the Convention People’s Party (CPP)  said there was too much intolerance and lack of consensus building in “our politics today from those who wield power and those who oppose power recklessly”

“We need as a matter of urgency to pave a new path by initiating the politics of ideas and volunteerism in our supporters, a charge we think the ruling party should lead,” a statement read on behalf of the acting National Chairperson of the CPP, Hajia Hamdatu Ibrahim said.

In conveying its solidarity message, the party said it would use the “opportunity to remind ourselves that there is growing distrust, doubt and disbelief in the political class”

“Deep down in our hearts and conscience, we know our great country is far from the pinnacle of our potential,” Hajia Ibrahim said.

“Creating an even playing field in the upcoming 2020 election is an essential element in further strengthening our democracy,” Hajia Ibrahim added.

Short notice

When contacted to find out why the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) was not at the NPP conference, the First Vice Chairman of the PPP, Mr William Doworkpor, said the party got the invitation at a very short notice hence its inability to attend..

The chairman of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Mr Bernard Mornah, said the party was not invited hence it could not send a representative to the conference.