Freddie Blay cutting the sod for the VR NPP project
National Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddie W. Blay, has said what will keep the NPP in power is for appointees of the government and members of the party to always put Ghana’s interests first, deliver faithfully and not focus on individual interests.
According to Mr. Blay, people who are appointed to important state positions often tend to focus on “what they can make for themselves rather than public service and the public good.”
“The culture that sees politics as a way to enrich ourselves is a recipe for our self-destruction. We must reject it. We must put Ghana first in all what we do as a party,” Mr. Blay said.
He was speaking in Ho at the sod-cutting and laying of foundation stone for the construction of the Volta Regional NPP Office Complex.
The NPP Chairman also used the occasion to sign an agreement between the party and Nyasmond Company Limited, the contractor working on the office complex in Ho.
He indicated that the Volta Region, just like other regions, is an important centre within the NPP’s national strategy, and that the foundation laid formed part of the party’s effort to consolidate the NPP’s presence in each region “by creating and building a home for our members.”
Mr. Blay said the idea of a headquarters was more than just a home since it serves as an administrative hub that enables coordination and building on the party’s networks in the regions, adding that “a permanent headquarters provides us with an important base to strengthen the party’s organisational efforts in the regions.”
“Each headquarters we build must reflect modern technology and the needs of our party as we move into the future,” he asserted and stated that he was particularly excited by the architect’s ability to incorporate important concepts in his brief, to enliven the project.
“I am confident that in time this building will stand as a good architectural statement and true testimony to the party’s commitment to our members in the region,” the NPP Chairman noted.
“As we lay the foundations to start construction of our new headquarters in Ho today, let me take the opportunity to stress our commitment to the core values of our party. Let’s remember that without a true commitment to our values nothing we build today will stand the test of time.”
“The core values of the New Patriotic Party are commitment and dedication to public service. We must never forget that what defines who we are, are the democratic ideals of serving in the interest of the people to build a better Ghana,” he reiterated.
For him, service in the interest of Ghana requires honest and true dedication of members of NPP to strong democratic principles since the party needs to build the infrastructure for strong political institutions that foster positive competitive political ideas.
“We must always remember that even though we have our political differences, we should cooperate with political colleagues in other parties in working to improve and enrich Ghana. In our diversity of political approaches and ideologies, the NPP and our NDC colleagues and all other political parties must be united in the dedication to make our country a better place for now and the generations to come,” Mr. Blay said.
The NPP Chairman emphasised that party politics was a critical element of a healthy democratic process and effective governance, and pointed out that politicians use that process to contest for government in the interest of the people.
He said the party that wins has the responsibility to deliver on its mandate, and added that the NPP government under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo is committed to delivering its “sacred mandate,” adding “parties that did not win government must demonstrate political maturity and desist from undermining the political process through agitation and propaganda.”
According to him, Ghanaians now are witnesses to the “sad spectre” of some political parties abandoning their own political manifestoes and “struggling to own the ‘Fix Ghana’ agitation.”
He told his colleagues in other parties that the better way to fix Ghana was not by shouting from “the rooftops” or social media, saying ”You fix Ghana by developing proper policies that win the mandate of the people in elections and being allowed the space to deliver on the mandate.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu