NPP ready for NDC - Minority

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) ended a three-day retreat in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital, with a lot of hope to recapture power from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the November 7 polls.

The party says it’s ready to restore hope to Ghanaians by clearing the mess created by the NDC government if it is elected.

The retreat, organised by the minority caucus in Parliament, brought together some of the party’s bigwigs, including the flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, his running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, all the parliamentary candidates as well as national campaign coordinators and regional executives.

The programme was held to solicit inputs for the party’s 2016 manifesto, strategise towards capturing political power and securing more seats in Parliament in the upcoming polls.

The Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, addressing the media after the programme yesterday, said the meeting, while motivating the party leadership for the 2016 polls, afforded MPs an opportunity to fashion out ways of neutralising the impact of the majority in Parliament.

According to him, the minority members from all over the country gathered to decide the way forward for the party to win the polls.

“We have interacted; we have dealt with who we are, where we are coming from, the history of our tradition, and we are taking stock of previous elections,” Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu stated, adding that “We have shared ideas and how we are going to prosecute our campaign towards the November or December 2016 elections.”

The minority leader noted that the retreat was not a platform to make a decision but rather to share ideas to enrich the manifesto.

“…We are not the national executives or decision-making body of the party, and we are very conscious of that. We have created a platform. All people have been here. We can make suggestions, we share ideas, but when it comes to taking decisions the appropriate bodies are there. It goes through the Steering Committee, National Executives and if necessary, the National Council,” he explained.

He added that the party’s manifesto and policy advisors came to give highlights of it (manifesto) and of course, sought ideas from other members too.

“We have committees, [and] regional campaign teams are going to be contacted, individuals are going to be contacted …to get ideas from across board to make sure we enrich our manifesto,” Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu underscored.

The NPP has commenced processes to draft a manifesto which, according to the party, would relief Ghanaians from economic hardships.

The retreat was aimed at synchronising and coordinating expert ideas and collect inputs to enrich the manifesto in a way that would address the fundamental issues confronting Ghanaians.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said the party would craft a manifesto that would serve as a direct remedy to the socio-economic challenges facing the nation.

The minority leader also mentioned that the retreat reviewed the performance of the minority in Parliament, accessed the challenges and made recommendations to surmount the challenges.





In his contribution, the MP for Okere, Daniel Botwe, indicated that the NPP would launch its manifesto soon, assuring Ghanaians to remain calm and expect a better manifesto from the party.

Mr Botwe, a former General Secretary of the party and current campaign strategist for the 2016 elections, noted that in previous years contesting political parties adopted key policies from the NPP’s manifesto and so the party would need to be meticulous in the timing of releasing its policy document.

Mr Botwe also mentioned the harsh economic conditions in the country and said it is the NPP which is capable of breaking the chain of hardship that has tied Ghanaians up.

He added that the party has a good track record of developing the country as it happened in the President Kufuor administration.

Accordingly, he entreated the electorate to vote massively for the NPP in the November polls to restore investor confidence in the country.