The New Patriotic Party has banned all party campaign ahead of the upcoming National Delegates Conference in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional Capital.
The party has also in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service will set up a vaccination center at Heroes Park in Kumasi for delegates and non-delegates who are not yet vaccinated.
Director of Communications, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah who address a press conference on Monday afternoon explained that “Following the notice by the Party, issued on the 10th December 2021, banning the display of paraphernalia of all kinds and personal advocacy by leadership aspirants around the upcoming conference of the Party, many would-be aspirants, members, friends of the Party and concerned Ghanaians, home and abroad have expressed their views”.
According to him”majority appear to be in favour of the ban but a significant group, including but not limited to supporters of some would-be aspirants expect further clarification”.
“That is not surprising, giving that several supporters and friends of some aspirants have organised themselves in readiness and even contributed to provide the paraphernalia that the Party has stated that they cannot use”.
Below is the full statement;
Today’s interaction will attempt to respond to the need to have a National Annual Delegates Conference without the panoply of leadership contention on the side lines.
Challenging Year
The Party and the Government are challenged by a society eager for solutions that will help break the perennial cycle of need impeding our common progress. There is a pressing need for more infrastructure. There is an urgent need for meaningful jobs. People need personal growth in tandem with the pace of national development.
The Ghanaian people are thirsty for a clear, consistent and sustainable path towards growth. It is a path of mobilisation. This is a time for mobilisation. This is not a time for leadership contention. Only a year ago, the good people of Ghanaian renewed the mandate of the current leadership of the Government. That leadership was offered to the people by the Party. The leadership of President Akufo-Addo, as endorsed by the people, has three more years to work towards realising the vision that Ghana voted for.
Therefore ladies and gentlemen, the Party’s press release of 10th December 2021, seeks nothing more than to focus the collective will of the Party on the needs of the people at this time. Now, our need as a governing Party in the leadership of the nation is to demonstrate our readiness to mobilise the people around a path to self-sustaining economic and social growth through mechanisms that the people accept can work effectively. The people are hungry for direction.
Direction
The NPP Government is offering direction. The e-levy is one such direction. It is a major opportunity that may move us beyond general price inflation occasioned by energy sector levies. It can also support a viable process of public debt reduction. However, it needs to be owned by the people. I wish all the paraphernalia by leadership aspirants were about the e-levy. Then we would be mobilising the people in their entirety around the concept of the e-levy, a clear leadership signal.
The digitalisation agenda is another such direction. The more government services and payments can be accessed through electronic means, the less waste and corruption that may be likely through human contact. I wish again that aspirant paraphernalia were advertising the policy of digitisation and digitalisation and its immense potential benefits to Ghanaians.
A significant but long term direction is the policy of holistic improvements to the education sector. As the current Government of the NPP is doing, Ghana must continue to commit significant resources to deliberately developing human capital imbued with the inventiveness and skills capable of exploiting our natural resources in order to change the structure of our economy towards job creation through value addition.
Our knowledgeable leadership aspirants would do this Government and country a world of good if their contribution to this conference would be about advertising the virtues of the bauxite, iron and steel and automotive industries and the 1D1F policy that are capable of changing the entire equation about jobs for the youth of this country.
2021 Conference
So please indulge me to quote from the Press Release.
“The 2021 National Annual Delegates Conference is a time of renewal for the Party. Though we cherish the Party tradition of democratic competition, we believe well-meaning aspirants will appreciate the need for such measures, which are necessary to enable a clear focus on the aims of the Conference. The true spirit behind the Conference is to enhance Party unity around the singular effort of working closely with Ghanaians as we recover from Covid-19 and rebuild our economy in new ways to feed into a future of shared growth.”
By this directive, the Party expects the conduct of all leading members to give hope to the foot soldiers, academics, artisans, traders, professionals, religious bodies, transport operators, students, traditional authorities, farmers and fishermen, media, business people, politicians, family and friends in the diaspora, public servants, the security services, the international community and all those with a stake in the growth and development of Ghana.
That is why the Conference theme reflects the desires of Ghana towards mobilisation of national energy around solutions. The theme is “NPP: Our Resolve, Our Determination and Commitment to Ghana’s Development”
“Resolve” implies to find solutions. Determination implies firmness of purpose. And Commitment implies dedication to the solutions and purpose we offer in our policies for social and economic growth. That is leadership.
Our call to all would be aspirants to refrain from campaigning and restrain their supporters is nothing less than a call to leadership. We would be grateful for aspirants to exhibit supreme leadership in their quest to lead by voluntarily complying with the Party directive not to campaign in Greater Kumasi pre-and during the Conference. As stated, the Conference is being held from Saturday the 18th December 2021 to Monday the 20th of December, 2021.
Delegates are expected to arrive in Kumasi on the 18th. The main activity will be on Sunday 19th December, 2021. The program on the 19th includes a Worship Service, after which speeches and reports will be received from the Party Chairman, Treasurer, General Secretary, Former President of the Republic and the incumbent Presidency. A break in the afternoon will be followed by a forum to address proposed constitutional amendments.
Delegates are expected to depart on Monday the 20th of December 2021.
Constitutional Rules
This Conference is dedicated to total mobilisation of the Ghanaian people. It is the Party that demonstrates ability to mobilise the people around credible economic independence that deserves to break the eight. Most of the current leadership aspirants believe they have the wherewithal to break the eight. The Party does not dispute such claims. The only question is timing. Article 10 (2) (7) (b) of the Party Constitution determines when National Officers may be elected.
Article 12 provides for the timing and election of Parliamentary Candidates, and Article 13 establishes the timing and conditions for election of Presidential Candidates. In fact, Article 13 (1) vests power in the National Council to change the date for the election of a Presidential Candidate whenever the circumstances demands it.
Also, Article 18 provides for the issuance of regulations and guidelines covering any potential situation. None of the constitutional provisions cited show that the time for internal competition is now. Of course competition is due, but not around the impeding National Annual National Delegates Conference.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Party is conscious of the freedoms and rights of democrats to run for office, campaign freely for self or for others, join others to form caucuses, groups or movements and to do whatever is fair and right to achieve electoral success. But none of these rights ought to be exercised above the collective interests of the Party and all stakeholders.
In the event, we are once again asking all aspirants to desist from promoting paraphernalia of any kind, including but not limited to outdoor material and t-shirts and the like within the Greater Kumasi Metropolis before and during the Conference. We are calling on the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies through the Office of the Honourable Chief of Staff and the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation & Rural Development to act to ensure that all outdoor displays are dealt with within the confines of the rules.
Vaccination
Furthermore, in line with the national aim of mass vaccination, especially given that the gathering for the Conference is close to the festive season, we are asking all delegates to ensure they have received the appropriate Covid-19 jabs before setting off for the Conference.
Delegates or attendees to the National Conference, who have not been vaccinated, are advised to get themselves vaccinated IMMEDIATELY. The Party will ensure STRICT adherence to vaccination protocol and the inspection of all vaccination certificates as a condition for entering the conference venue.
We are asking the Ghana Health Service to renew the publication of sites where people can go for jabs. We will also cooperate to ensure that medical facilities around the Conference are set up to cope fully with all Covid-19 related protocols. Please, once again, remember to carry your vaccination card with you at all times.
The Party has officially written to its Regional and Constituency Executives, who are the main delegates to the National Annual Delegates Conference on this Vaccination protocols. Much as this may be inconveniencing, it is a necessary measure that has to be taken to protect lives.
In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, at stake is a total mobilisation of the Ghanaian people around solutions that can meet our needs. The job of the President Akufo-Addo led NPP Government is to provide functional and effective policy solutions. The job of the Party is to mobilise people around those solutions and encourage ownership and participation for success.
We have no doubt that the men and women in the forefront of the NPP can lead the charge to deliver results. Together with the nation, we will break the eight and consolidate effective governance for the benefit of the people.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year
BY Daniel Bampoe