The National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Stephen Ntim, has assured party members that he will ensure free and fair elections in the upcoming election of a flagbearer to lead the party into election 2024.
Speaking at a brainstorming session by the Council of Elders of the Greater Accra Region at Peduase in Aburi, he stated that even though the party is yet to set a date for the congress and election of its flagbearer and parliamentary candidates, national executives are in vigorous preparation to ensure a free, fair, clean and successful primaries.
Responding to concerns by some members of the council on those who are flouting the code of conduct in the campaigning, Mr Ntim was emphatic that the code of ethics is still in force and thus cautioned prospective aspirants to abide by them as no date has been set yet for the elections.
Read his statement below;
STATEMENT BY STEPHEN AYESU NTIM AT A RETREAT ORGANISED BY THE GREATER ACCRA REGIONAL COUNCIL OF ELDERS ON FEBRUARY 11, 2023
Chairman and members of the Greater Accra Regional Council of Elders, I stand on existing protocols to, first of all, bring you greetings from the National leadership of the Party, and to commend you for putting together this important Retreat. I do not recall a retreat of this nature organized by any of our regional council of elders and so, I commend you for setting this pace and hope that other organs of the party particularly at the regional levels would emulate this enviable example.
The choice of the theme for this occasion: “Effective Party Organization To Break The Eight”is spot on and worthy of commendation. Indeed, I dare say, there couldn’t have been a better theme looking at the times we find ourselves as a Party. We are seeking to do something no political party in the history of this country has been able to do. We are seeking to win a third consecutive general election. We are seeking to break the eight that has so far eluded the two major political parties in the fourth republic.
Obviously, to achieve this extraordinary and unprecedented feat, we need to do the extraordinary. We cannot do the same things we’ve been doing from 1992 and expect to achieve a different result, more so, when the result in question, is one that no political party in Ghana has been able to achieve. This consciousness is what I expect to drive our 2024 project. We must all be conscious of the enormity of the task ahead of us to be able to work our hearts out towards its realization.
Consistent with our mandate, we, as national officers, following our election in July 2022, set for ourselves, a target of working assiduously to retain power in 2024 to justify the confidence that had been reposed in us by the party’s delegates. This particular commitment to delivering nothing but victory to the party come 2024, has, at all times, been our primary focus in everything we do.
We began by appointing hardworking party members to serve as deputy national officers, directors at the national secretariat and as members of the various committees of the Party to help us effectively deliver on our mandate. Of course, we can only be successful on this mandate if we get the support and cooperation of the members of our Party. More importantly, we can only succeed in our mandate when we continue to receive wise counsel from the members of our council of elders from the constituency to regional and national levels to put us on track at all times.
As members of the council of elders, the wisdom and advice you offer us is so crucial to help us effectively organize and manage the party. This is crucial in winning the 2024 general elections.
With your continuous support thus far, I am happy to report that the NPP is the most organized political party in Ghana. In respect of the current state of the NPP as evidence of our level of preparedness for the 2024 general elections, I can say confidently that, building on the hard work started by the previous administration, we continue to be the most vibrant and leading political party in Ghana.
Indeed, despite the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on political activities, we were the first party in Ghana that was able to organize conferences and elected polling station executives in the over 38,000 polling stations in the country; elected constituency executives in all 275 constituencies; elected regional executives in all the 16 regions of the country and ultimately elected national executive officers.
We have equally successfully undertaken a nationwide membership registration, and have also begun rolling out a new biometric membership ID card with the launch of a new biometric membership identification system to issue new party cards to our members and for the management of membership data. We have successfully organized orientation and training workshops for the national and regional party executives to prepare ourselves for the task ahead.
We have initiated the “Party-Government Engagements series”, which is an initiative that is aimed at bridging the gap between the party and government by strengthening the relationship between government appointees and party executives at all levels through regular face-to-face interactions. Following the introduction of the initiative, some senior government officials and CEOs of government agencies have visited the Party headquarters and held fruitful interactions with party officials.
Without a doubt, all these feats, can certainly, only be achieved by a well-organized political party that is well-prepared to go into the 2024 general elections and win by the grace of God.
Mr Chairman, having come this far, another crucial activity that is ahead of the Party going into the election of 2024 is the organisation of parliamentary and presidential primaries to select our respective candidates. This exercise is so crucial that our victory in 2024 is largely hinged on how we conduct ourselves before, during and after these primaries.
On account of this, I wish to make a passionate appeal to all prospective aspirants, their supporters, party members and all stakeholders of the Party to respect the rules of engagement. We should always be guided by the supreme interest of the party and eschew all acts that have the tendency of dividing our ranks. We cannot have an effective and well-organised party to break the eight if we do not prioritize the party’s interest. Our victory in 2024 will largely depend on how we conduct ourselves in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary primaries.
It is in view of the importance of these primaries on our electoral fortunes that the National Council of the Party formulated a Code of Conduct to regulate our conduct during the period preceding the opening of nominations for these primaries. It is also worth reminding all party members that the Code of Conduct is still in force, and as national officers, we will continue to monitor its implementation to ensure maximum conformity. This is crucial to help us close our ranks going into the 2024 general elections and to be able to break the eight.
As members of the Council of Elders of our Party, you have an important role to play in promoting the Code of Conduct and generally, in ensuring party discipline, which again is absolutely necessary for our victory in 2024. I, therefore, appeal to every member of the party to support us in this endeavour. This is needed for the party to break the eight.
Distinguished Elders, I also wish to report to you that the party is currently engaging stakeholders and would very soon come out with a timetable for the conduct of the Party’s parliamentary and presidential primaries. For your information at the last Steering Committee, National Executive Committee and National Council meetings held on February 2, 2023, it was resolved that due to the importance of this exercise on the party’s electoral fortunes in 2024, there was the need for the party to build consensus among all relevant stakeholders before deciding on timelines for the conduct of the primaries.
At the right time when a broader stakeholder consultation is done and this decision is eventually taken, the Party would issue appropriate rules and regulations to govern the conduct of these primaries. I once again plead to all party members to abide by these rules and regulations in the interest of the party. I wish to reiterate the point that as national officers of the Party, not only are we going to be impartial but will also ensure a level playing field for all prospective aspirants in the conduct of both the parliamentary and presidential primaries.
We admonish supporters of would-be aspirants and members of the party to refrain from the use of provocative language in the lead-up to the party’s primaries. We should all remember that we remain the sons and daughters of the womb of one giant elephant. This is the only party we have. We should remind ourselves of the very reason for our existence as a political party which finds expression in Article 2(3) of the Party’s Constitution. i.e. “to win political power through democratic means in order to pursue the party’s agenda as provided for in the party’s manifesto for a general election”.
LONG LIVE THE NPP
LONG LIVE GHANA
KUKRUDU! KUKRUDU!