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NPP Congress Slated For February 27
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
Accra, Jan 25, Ghanadot - The National Council of the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) has fixed Saturday, February 27, 2010
as the new date for its national delegates conference to
elect new national executives for the party.
This is the third time the party is rescheduling its
national delegates’ conference after previous postponements
from December 19, 2009, January 29, 2010 and February 6,
2010. Party officials have revealed.
The conference is scheduled to take place at the Liberty
Sports Stadium at Dansoman in Accra, the first time the
party will hold its national delegates conference in an open
place.
The essence is to enable the party to accommodate the
anticipated large number of delegates, observers and
journalists who will be attending the event.
At a special delegates conference held on August 22, 2009,
the NPP amended some provisions in its constitution to
expand the party's Electoral College for the national
delegates’ conference to about 4,600.
After reviewing the current state of affairs in the party,
the Council, at its meeting in Accra last Friday, upheld a
proposition by the National Executive Committee (NEC) to
reschedule the conference for late February.
A wide-range of issues believed to centre on the unity,
development and progress of the party were discussed during
the seven-hour meeting, but the leadership of the party
declined to comment on them, explaining that those issues
were not for public consumption.
The Director of Communications of the party, Mr Kwaku
Kwarteng, indicated meeting that the council decided to
re-schedule the date for the national delegates’ conference
in order to give room for constituencies which were yet to
hold their delegates conferences to do so.
The holding of constituency delegates conferences pave the
way for the organisation of regional delegates conferences
and subsequently the national delegates conference.
All the regions have concluded their regional delegates’
conferences, with the exception of the Ashanti Region where
some nagging issues, including legal matters, have made it
impossible to hold a regional conference.
The NPP is grappling with a court action filed by the
Chairman of the Asante Akim North Constituency, Nana Adu
Asabere, at the Kumasi High Court restraining the regional
and national executives of the party from holding the
Ashanti Regional delegates conference on the grounds that
some constituencies in the region were yet to conduct their
conferences and so holding the regional delegates conference
will disenfranchise some delegates.
The case has been adjourned to January 27, 2010, exactly one
month ahead of the new scheduled date for the national
delegates’ conference.
According to the NPP constitution, there must be at least a
one-month time lapse between the last regional conference of
the party and its national delegates’ conference.
Mr Kwarteng said the decision by council to extend the date
to late February was to allow room for all outstanding
issues to be resolved in order to enable as many delegates
as possible to take part in the national delegates’
conference.
He, however, indicated that irrespective of the resolution
of those outstanding issues, the national delegates’
conference would come off on the scheduled date because the
party already had a quorum to hold the conference.
The National Council is the second highest decision-making
body of the NPP after the national delegates’ congress and
its membership include the former President, the former Vice
President, former party chairmen, former general
secretaries, NEC members, sitting Members of Parliament and
regional representatives.
The party has already vetted 32 candidates to contest for
the various national executive positions, with the
chairmanship promising to be the hottest.
Five contenders - Mr Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, Dr Charles
Wereko-Brobby, Mr Felix Owusu Adjapong, Mr Stephen Ntim and
Mr Sammy Crabbe - are headed for a contest some political
analysts .envisage to be too close to call.
Eight candidates are contesting for the three vice-chairman
positions, but that is not generating public attention as
much as the position of General Secretary for which five
very affable candidates are vying. The incumbent General
Secretary, Nana Ohene Ntow, is being challenged by Messrs
Nkrabea Effah-Darteh, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah and Busia.
Three persons are vying for the National Organiser position,
two for the position of Treasurer, four for the position of
Youth Organiser; two for the Women's Organiser position, and
three for the position of Nasara Co-ordinator.
Considering the internal wrangling in the party, mainly
centred on the Akufo-Addo and the Alan Kyerematen factions,
as well as the successful national delegates congress
organised by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in
Tamale recently, some political analysts have intimated that
the NPP will be under pressure to come clean with its
national delegates conference.
Mr Kwarteng dismissed that suggestion, saying the NPP had
always held peaceful national delegates conferences and
congresses and so the patty was under no pressure to do it
again.
"In fact, if we go for conference and there is violence, it
will be big news; but if the conference is peaceful, it will
not make news at all unlike others whose holding of peaceful
congress is considered big news,” he said.
Ghanadot
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