PNC reorganises for 2004 polls

The Peoples' National Convention (PNC), one of the fragmented Nkrumaist tradition parties, has begun a vigorous re-organisation exercise towards the 2004 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

Formed as an offshoot of the Third Republic's President Hilla Limann-led Peoples' National Party (PNP) in 1992, the PNC endeared itself in the political arena of the country to a section of the electorate.

The party, now led by Obstetric/Gynaecologist, Dr Edward Nasigre Mahama had to struggle through two general elections in 1996 and 2000.

From a seat in the second Parliament, the party currently boasts of being the largest party in the Nkrumaist tradition with three parliamentary seats.

They are the Sissala, Bolgatanga and Mamprusi West constituencies.

The Convention Peoples Party (CPP), the other Nkrumaist tradition party has only one parliamentary seat - the Ellembele constituency in the Western region.

Recently, the PNC began its re-organisation exercise in Koforidua with a meeting of the National Steering Committee that discussed some of the problems that affected the party's performance in the 2000 Elections.

It collated views from party members, especially, those at the constituency and ward levels and adopted new strategies that could propel the party to victory in the 2004 Elections.

Among the numerous problems that were identified at the meeting were the lack of logistics such as vehicles, bicycles, funds for campaign activities and the inability of some party executives to honour invitations to address political rallies.

Lack of vehicles dominated the discussions since most of the parliamentary candidates complained about the difficulties they encountered during the campaign period.

This, according to them, hampered their interactions with the people, especially, those in the rural areas and these, they claimed, impacted adversely on their chances of winning.

The Eastern Regional Secretariat of PNC had only one vehicle donated by the Regional Chairman for all campaign activities in all the 26 constituencies.

The Constituency Executives and Parliamentary Candidates alleged that, it took between two weeks and one month for a constituency to have access to the vehicle to tour the towns and villages.

It was no wonder, therefore, that most of the candidates could not reach the majority of the electorates to explain the party's manifesto and policies to them.

Another area, which enjoyed a lengthy discussion at the meeting was funding. Most of the constituency executives complained about lack of funds to organise and train foot soldiers for the party to monitor the elections.

In response to this, the Leadership of the party reaffirmed its commitment to provide the needed logistics and financial support to all constituencies.

Dr Mahama said the party was seeking support and resources from both its internal and external friends.

He confirmed that the party was involved in talks with other parties of the tradition towards a possible merger, but said there was still the need for it to organise very well in order to be a strong force in the merger.

He explained that the national re-organisation exercise was meant to identify and remove all bottlenecks that could hamper the chances of the party in the 2004 Elections.

The Leadership was also in the process of producing a new manifesto that would focus on the current economic, political and social conditions in relation to the NPP administration in order to offer alternative programmes to the people in the 2004 Elections.

Some members suggested to the Leadership to undertake vigorous media campaigns to market the party, organise the youth, especially, at the tertiary levels as well as mobilise the women's wing effectively to encourage them to participate fully in the affairs of the party.