03 – 01 – 2003: - NPP
set for national delegates congress
03 – 01 – 2003: - President
Kufuor to make history at NPP congress
NPP set for national delegates
congress
Takoradi (Western Region) 03
January 2003 - The New Patriotic Party (NPP), has
formally launched its national delegates’ congress and conference scheduled for
The congress is expected to
endorse the nomination of President J.A. Kufuor, the party’s sole candidate, as
the flagbearer of the NPP for the 2004 presidential election.
The venue of the congress,
which is the
In all, 4,500 people
including delegates, observers from NPP branches in
Other highlights of the
congress will be election of officers for the National Women and Youth wings of
the party. Four hundred and twenty delegates, made up of constituency and
regional youth and women organisers, will vote at the congress to elect
executives for the two wings.
The climax of the congress is
the holding of a mammoth national rally at the Takoradi Polytechnic on Sunday 5
January.
Speaking at the launch, the
General Secretary, Dan Botwe, said the Western
Regional branch of the party is the best organised branch in the country and deserves
the honour to host the congress.
According to him, the
congress will set the stage for the NPP’s political
campaign towards retaining political campaign towards retaining political power
in the 2004 polls. He said the party will win about 150 seats in the next
parliamentary elections and a massive victory in the presidential poll.
The Majority Leader in
Parliament, Papa Owusu Ankomah, debunked the assertion that the media sets the
agenda for the government’s development policies and programmes. – Daily
Graphic
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President Kufuor to make history at NPP congress
The President will also go
down in the history books of
JAK is certainly a long-distance
political runner, borrowing a leaf from his political mentor, Jeffrey Archer,
his active political career dating back to 1969 when he was appointed a Junior
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The President who is the sole
contestant for the presidential slot of the party at Sunday’s congress,
contested in 1992 and lost to the then popular choice, Professor Albert Adu-Boahen, who is credited for breaking the culture of
silence then prevailing in the country by openly criticising the policies of
the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).
One quality that the broad
masses of human beings lack but which God the Almighty has endowed Kufuor with,
is his unlimited patience and tenacity of purpose, which invariably led him to
stake another claim for the NPP presidential slot against Prof Adu Boahen, “Economics General
“Dr Akwasi Jones Ofori-Atta; “
Economics Senior Prefect” Senior Minister J.H. Mensah, among others, in
1996.
This time round, his
strategic plan of adopting a paternal partnership with activists of the party
especially in the three northern regions immediately after the 1992 elections
did the trick for him, since the delegates who attended the congress from those
regions voted en bloc for him, facilitating his victory over the highly fancied
Prof Adu-Boahen.
JAK, who was strongly
convinced that he would one day manage the economy of the nation, engaged in a
battle for the 2000 presidential ticket of the NPP with Nana Akufo-Addo and his brother-in-law J.H. Mensah, both of whom
he thrashed soundly at the Sunyani congress.
What invariably accounted for
JAK’s emphatic victory at the special delegates
congress to elect the party’s presidential flagbearer for the 2000 elections
was the fact that he was the most marketed person among those who contested him
and for that matter the delegates felt that he was the only person who could
defeat the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, Professor John Atta
Mills.
In addition, it perhaps
dawned on the rank and file members of the party that JAK was not
temperamental, since it came out from his interactions with the media that he
was tough minded and motivated by reasoning and analysed issues on their merit.
President Kufuor was also the
only person who filed his nomination papers to contest the presidential slot of
the party for the 2004 presidential election, even though the national
secretariat of the party invited nominations for the position.
Several reasons could be
assigned for the reluctance of other potential candidates to file their
nomination to contest the President at the congress. The writer believes that
those with political clout and financial standing in the NPP did their homework
well to ensure that the acrimony that characterised the last congress in 1998
does not repeat itself.
They realised that the NPP
needs a united front to contest the next presidential elections, and so felt
that allowing a number of contestants for the slot will factionalise the party
and weaken its front and its ability to retain political power in the next
elections.
The NPP has also appreciated
the fact that it will be contesting the polls as the ruling party and not as
the largest opposition party and, therefore, it will be tactically wise to
settle on the President so as not to dissipate its energies on wranglings.
Two major problems also
confront JAK; his desire to maintain strong party structures, since he is
managing the country on its ticket, and fulfilling the aspirations of the vast
majority of the people. Truly, these are dialectical and dicey issues since
they constitute the two sides of the same political coin.
The fact is that the NPP
needs virile structures to retain political power in the next polls and any
attempt by President Kufuor and the executive to gloss over or play down on the
matter will have grave consequences for the party.
Having virile structures
implies functional offices with well-resourced and trained activists who are
well versed in party organisation and propaganda work. Such activists should
also command respect among the electorate in their respective constituencies
and should have the persuasive skills that can add thousands of new members to
the party’s membership.
Organisation, funds and
well-dedicated activists are the most important ingredients that propel a
political party to greater heights and help it to dominate other political
parties. These are areas that President Kufuor, as the leader of the NPP,
should very well appreciate as he prepares to be endorsed as the NPP’s presidential candidate for the 2004 polls.
The writer has always
wondered why experienced party activists jockeyed for political positions
immediately after the last elections, instead of staying at the national
secretariat of the party to consolidate its structures before joining the executive
branch of government if the party retains political power in 2004.
Today, apart from General
Secretary Dan Botwe, who remains the only old horse
at the national secretariat, all the other executives are new hands and this
development, to me, is not healthy for the well-being of the NPP.
It is the wish and prayer of
the writer that President Kufuor will have a day off his heavy and tight
schedule every week of the year to attend to party matters, especially those
relating to petty struggles among constituency executives, district chief
executives (DCE) and Members of Parliament.
Political functionaries of
the various political parties, especially the NPP, must realise that they hold
their present positions owing to the fact that the party won elections and
nothing else and for that matter efforts should be made to ensure that
structures of the NPP throughout the country are always strong and
battle-ready.
By Sunday evening, President
Kufuor would have been confirmed to once again battle against Prof Mills of the
NDC in the next presidential election, which promises to be exciting and
thrilling. – Daily Graphic
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