FULL TEXT: NPP declares September 2021 as the month of mass registration

Constituency Annual Delegates Conference

But before that, we wish to take this opportunity to thank our rank and file and all stakeholders of the Party for the successful conduct of the Party’s 2021 constituency annual delegates conference held across all the 275 constituencies of the country from 21st August to 27th August, 2021.

With the right protocols and in the open air, the NPP has managed to hold all its Constituency Conferences across the country. It was a huge success.

The external branches of our Party are not left out. They are due to have their conferences from the 18th of September 2021.

Code of Conduct for pre-elections period

The Party also wishes to commend its members for largely complying with the Code of Conduct issued by the Party for pre-presidential and parliamentary primaries ahead of the 2024 presidential and parliamentary primaries of the party. Since the issuance of the Code of conduct on 27th July, 2021, some significant sanity has been achieved in this space.

We will continue to monitor the implementation of the Code of Conduct and crack the whip where need be.

It is evidently clear that the combined effect of discussions and the publication of the Code has calmed the waters of competition quite dramatically and we want to congratulate all aspirants, announced and yet to be announced, for their disciplined observance of the Code.

We also want to thank all supporters of the aspirants for accepting the need to moderate their efforts and to act with decorum whilst we focus on delivering on our mandate to the good people of Ghana, who have rested their confidence in us for another term.

This Code and its successful implementation bring two crucial things to light, relative to the constitutional mandate for governance. First, after practical experience of the workings of the 1992 Constitution, it is evident that a mere rotation of parties just based on the passage of eight years, interrupts good governance.

The NPP believes its policies deliver value for money and thus continuity of those policies is beneficial in the long term.

Indeed, social and economic transformation takes time and consistency of policy implementation. Nowhere in the 1992 Constitution does it say that a party that is performing well should be changed after eight years.

It is rather the president leading the party. So, a president who performs well must leave after eight years but the party can continue with a new president to consolidate good policies and present a fresh eye and vision.

That is what informs the NPP desire to break the eight.

The NPP believes strongly that after eight elections and two rotations between NPP and NDC, Ghana would want an NPP government to continue to deliver on the policies and programmes that are gradually changing this nation for the better. We are humbly counting on Ghanaians to sustain the NPP in power after 2024 by voting massively to endorse the best of our policies and grant our new leader the opportunity to carry the torch of progress forward.

That brings me to the second matter of change of leadership. The NPP welcomes the competition. At the presidential level, the national constitution demands competition because our hardworking compassionate President will end his constitutional term.

Early in the year, however, there was some amount of unease and disquiet in our support base as noble leading members of our dear Party, appeared to be jostling for space. Not wanting anyone to peak too early and considering that every potential successor to HE the President has a major contribution to make now, the Party came out with the Code of Conduct. We are very happy at how the Code has been received and respected.

We expect to open nominations at the right time, and we believe the Party will present a very good successor to His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. That leader will continue to listen to the people, mobilise the best of our values and talents and accelerate the social and economic transformation of Ghana.

Declaration of the month of September as Mass Registration

The remaining days in the month of September have been declared by the National Executive Committee of the Party as the month for mass membership registration and updating of existing names. This will see the party undertake a nationwide exercise of compiling a register of all members of the party as well as persons wishing to be members.

The exercise will take place simultaneously at each polling station, which is the only vehicle through which citizens of Ghana may enrol for membership in the NPP, in any parliamentary constituency where the citizen resides or hails from. Article 3(1)(1) of our Party Constitution opens membership of the Party to all citizens of voting age, irrespective of origin, circumstances of birth, race, status, occupation, gender, ethnic origin, religion, creed, or any other belief or social fetter.

The core requirement is that you always promote and defend the good name of the Party and be loyal and truthful to the Party and its policies. When you write your name, you will become an ambassador of the Party, living and breathing the best of the NPP.

You will share with your family, neighbour, friend and co-worker, what you see, feel and hear about the things the NPP is doing. You will talk about the new road in your area, your child in SHS, your nephew employed as a nurse, your uncle selling his produce to the new 1D1F factory in your village.

You will share your experiences from enjoying regular electricity, the easy renewal of your NHIS card and driving licence. You will talk about your new job with the Ambulance Service and how the digital address system makes it easy to help people. You will project the NPP everywhere you go. Then you will feel the satisfaction of being part of a party that cares deeply about people.

Members of the Party at all levels are therefore requested to update their membership of the party by visiting their respective polling stations to get their details captured in the new membership register. Persons wishing to join the Party are equally requested to also visit their polling stations and provide their relevant details to be captured in the new membership register.

President Akufo-Addo will, in this 20-days mass registration period visit his polling station at Abuakwa South in the Eastern Region to update his membership of the Party in the new register. Vice President Bawumia will also go his polling station in Walewale to update his membership of the Party.

National Officers of the Party, Ministers of State and all government appointees who are party members will all participate in this mass registration exercise by visiting their respective polling stations to get their details captured in the new register.

In accordance with Article 3(10) of the Party Constitution, the membership register shall be kept at the polling station level. The register shall be updated every six months. The polling station registers shall be in the custody of polling station executives who shall avail themselves at a publicized venue in and around the polling station and within the electoral area during the 20-day period of the mass registration. (i.e., from 10th September to 30th September).

Ahead of this exercise, the party has already distributed polling station registers to all the 38,000+ polling stations in the country. The Party has equally printed and submitted constituency registers to all the 275 constituencies of the country.

It is expected that at the end of the mass registration period, the data contained in the polling station registers of a particular constituency will be transferred into the constituency register by the constituency secretariat.

Equally, entries made in the polling station registers will be transferred to the constituency registers from time to time. In the same vein, regional registers will be compiled from the entries in constituency registers at regular intervals.

This membership registration forms part of the party’s restructuring and reorganization efforts towards breaking the eight-year governance cycle and thus ensuring a resounding victory for the party in 2024. It is therefore anticipated that members of the Party will accord this important exercise their maximum cooperation and support.

Regional Annual Delegates Conferences

The Party has scheduled the month of October to hold Regional Annual Delegates Conferences in all the 16 regions of the country in accordance with Article 9 of the Party Constitution. Just like the just ended Constituency Annual Delegates Conferences, the Regional Conferences will also be held in strict compliance with standard guidelines and Covid-19 health protocols.

The National Executive Committee has approved dates and zonal arrangements for the regional annual delegates conference.

National Annual Delegates Conference

The Party shall hold its 2021 National Annual Delegates Conference from December 18 to December 20, 2021, in Kumasi, the Regional Capital of the Ashanti Region. The Conference will also be held in strict compliance with standard guidelines and Covid-19 health protocols to be observed by all.

Notice of Amendment to the Party Constitution

With reference to Article 19 of the Party Constitution, which mandates the General Secretary of the Party to receive notice or proposals for amendments to the Party Constitution not later than two months before the National Annual Delegates Conference, the General Secretary is, through this medium, announcing that his office is ready to receive proposals or motions for constitutional amendments from the members of the Party.

Utterances from The NDC’s Perpetual Flagbearer

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, let me share a few words on the “do or die” comment of perpetual candidate Mahama. It is a distasteful comment that does not belong in our fast-maturing electoral democracy. We note that John Mahama stubbornly refuses to retract. Rather, he is seeking refuge in semantics and grammar, struggling to explain the impossible.

However, we are not surprised. Being in opposition and desperate to come back to power, John Mahama must be panicking at the pace at which the Akufo-Addo Administration is moving. The President continues to commission completed projects and initiate new ones on his working tours of the country.

Everywhere the President goes, there is fervent support for his policies which are visibly changing lives. Infrastructure is springing up fast in the new regions. One hundred and six 1D1F factories are working full blast with many more in the pipeline.

The Presidents’ sterling management of COVID-19 has opened the space for former President Mahama to move around easily. Growth is moving in the right direction. We are the destination for the highest FDI inflows in West Africa. Agenda 111 has been launched with strong prospects to change the health sector to another level. In confirmation of these works, the IMF has granted Ghana one billion dollars in Special Drawing Rights without any conditionalities whatsoever.

No wonder former President Mahama is desperate. He has no blueprint to match the progress he is seeing. He has no alternative for Ghanaians. Indeed, if he had something of substance to sell, he would not resort to the language of ‘do or die’.

‘Do or die’ at polling stations depends on the preparedness of the party. The NDCs’ history shows they have never truly been prepared at polling stations. They have not been able to design and implement an architecture that can deliver results at polling station to enable them inform themselves. In 2016, when they told the world they were in a comfortable lead, they had no inkling of the direction of the results.

Again, in 2020, when they lost, they again told the world they had won and proceeded to the supreme court without a shred of evidence to back their claims. On the contrary, the NPP can tell within six hours, the results of a national election. Because we are serious about governance. John Mahama’s lack of electoral preparedness, which he blames on everybody but himself, stems from his own admission of indecisiveness as a leader.

His own observations about his lack of decisiveness in his infamous autobiography reflects where he is now.

This is a man who has been MP, Deputy Minister, Minister, Vice President, President and losing Presidential Candidate. He is the greatest beneficiary of high-profile positions within the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Yet, he still does not realise and appreciate that leadership is about service. He cannot understand that leadership is about vision. He does not know that leadership is about hope. We will not expend precious hours persuading him of the error of his ways.

John Mahama’s deeds and utterances will continue to expose the incompetence and desperation again and again. He is simply incapable of leading this cherished democracy that Ghana is carefully building. NPP will continue to implement policies that are responsive to the needs of the people. That has always been the NPP way.

Thank you for your attention.