The regional branches of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have organised elections for members who wish to represent their regions on the party’s National Council.

The various elections were held at the weekend after a party member challenged the current constitution of the council.

The party’s constitution requires the National Council, which is the second highest decision-making body of the party, to be reconstituted after every four years.

From the Ashanti Region, Donald Ato Dapatem reports from Kumasi that on Saturday delegates confirmed five additional members to represent the region as members of the National Executive Council.

There was no election because at the end of nominations, only five people had filed to contest.

Those confirmed unanimously by the 520 delegates who gathered at the Cultural Centre in Kumasi are Mr Yaw Richard Amankwa, a former Ashanti Regional Chairman of the party; Mr Maxwell Kofi Dwumah, a former Member of Parliament for Asokwa, Mr Osei Prempeh, a former MP for Nsuta Kwarmang Beposo, Dr Amoako Tuffuor, a former Chief Executive of Ghana School Feeding Programme, and Madam Janet Anane, a businesswoman.

The Third National Vice Chairman of the party, Mr F. F. Antoh, urged members of the party to concentrate on how to ensure that whosoever was elected to represent the party in the 2016 elections would be voted for overwhelmingly.

According to him, a large portion of the party’s supporters did not come out to vote in the last election because if they had, at least, the party would have got the votes needed to win that election.

High turnout

The Regional Chairman, Mr Bernard Antwi Bosiako, commended the members for the high turnout, and appealed to them to, in the same spirit, start campaigning towards the 2016 elections.

He advised them to always bear in mind that the election to select a presidential candidate for the NPP was purely an internal affair and they should not allow that to lead to divisions in the party.

He again praised the members for the peaceful manner im which they had conducted themselves.

From the Northern Region, Samuel Duodu reports from Tamale that the Northern Regional Executive Committee of the party unanimously endorsed an earlier list of seven members submitted to the national secretariat for approval as their representatives on the National Council.

At a special meeting in Tamale, the leadership of the party from the 31 constituencies in the Northern Region unanimously endorsed the seven to represent the region on the National Council.

The seven members who were endorsed at the meeting comprise four regional executive members and three non-executive members.

The regional executive members are the Regional Chairman, Mr Daniel Bugri Naabu, who is an automatic member; the first Vice-Chairperson, Hajia Samata, second Vice-Chairperson, Alhaji Sunday, and the Regional Secretary, Sule Salifu.

The three non-executive members are Alhaji Aminu Amadu, a founder member of the party in the region; Salamatu Forgor, a former District Chief Executive (DCE) for Bole; and Wiston Binabba, a party stalwart in the region.

Explaining the decision to endorse the seven regional representative on the National Council, the NPP regional Communications Director, Mohammed Abdul Kudus, said it was in line with a directive by the party’s national secretariat to hold regional elections to elect the representatives in accordance with Article 7 Clause 15 of the party’s constitution.

Interest groups

He stated that the endorsement of the seven regional representatives on the National Council stood for the various interest groups within the party in the region.

Mr Kudus stated further that scarce resources of the party, which otherwise might have been used to organise the election to elect the regional representatives to the National Council, would be channelled into other party activities.

Some of the Regional Executive Committee members later in an interaction with newsmen expressed their satisfaction about the decision taken to select the regional representatives to the National Council.

They appealed to all party members to unite to enable the party to win the 2016 general election.

Vincent Amenuveve also reports from Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region that three members of the party were yesterday elected by popular acclamation to represent the region on the National Council.

They are Alhaji Sulemana Yiremea, 55,a leading member of the party in the region, Mr. Rockson Ayine Bukari,67,a retired educationist, and Joseph Kofi Addah,58, a former Minister of Energy in the Kufuor administration.

They were sworn in by the National NASARA Co-ordinator, Mr.Kamal Deen Abdulai.

The members, in their acceptance speech, thanked the over 200 delegates for the confidence reposed in them and called for party unity in order to win future elections.

Power

They noted that it was important for the NPP to take over power from the ruling National Democratic Congress(NDC) to restore hope and dignity to Ghanaians.

The Upper East Region NPP Communication Director, Mr.Edmund Awuni, observed that “under the constitution of the party, every five constituencies in a region had the opportunity to have one person to represent them on the National Council and since the region had 15 constituencies, it was entitled to select three members to represent it on the Council”.

He expressed joy that the exercise was peaceful.

The party’s constitution requires the National Council to be re-constituted after every four years.


Source: Allnews360.com