prooThe National Democratic Party (NDP) has acclaimed former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, as its presidential candidate for the second time at their third national delegates congress in Accra Saturday.
Mrs Rawlings was the flagbearer of the NDP in the 2016 elections, where she polled 16,953 out of more than 10.8million total votes cast.
A Deputy Chairperson at the Electoral Commission, Dr Serebour Quaicoe who supervised the process, also acclaimed national executives and various committee members and urged them to manage the affairs of the party for the 2020 elections and, for the next four years.
The occasion was graced by Nana Obiri Boahen, Deputy General Secretary), Mr Michael Omari Wadie and Third National Chairperson of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) while Mr Fleischeir Lartey, National Organiser, represented the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) including some traditional leaders from across the country.
Delivering her acceptance speech, Mrs Rawlings, thanked the party for reposing confidence in her again to lead the party in the 2020 elections.
She bemoaned what she described as the dominance of the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which has led to the politicisation of policies for the country’s development.
The NDP flagbearer lamented, “This is usually aimed at scoring political point for the next elections at the expense of national development, and the NDP is the only alternative party of choice to refocus the country’s agenda towards a long term national development and beyond a two-party system.”
According to the former First Lady, “Our party will lead Ghana into an era of economic advancement tailored to our specific strengths and needs. We will proudly write our own script for present and future generations to recognise that only we, as Ghanaians ought to be the architect of our future.”
Mrs Rawlings called on the national executives and the youth of the party to work towards a mission of having NDP Members of Parliament come 2021, to open up the discourse to reflect varied views and national interest.
Speaking to the Ghanaian Times on the theme for the conference, ‘Shared leadership for national transformation, human empowerment, and anti-corruption’, the Secretary General of the party, Alhaji Mohammed Frimpong, said, “We are placing leadership over pretentious political goodies.”
“The NDP have come out with the ‘Community Organisation Bureaus,’ to focus on governance in communities and create better stability because, you do not expect the Executive to be omniscient and omnipresent.
The conference hall was thrown into an atmosphere of ecstasy, when the former president, Jerry John Rawlings, special guest for the occasion was called to deliver a speech, but was shortlived, as he was unable to attend the programme.
Former President Rawlings in a speech read on his behalf, noted:“I congratulate my dear wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, on her selection once again as the flagbearer of your party. I wish you the best of luck in all your endeavours and wish the NDP well in the 2020 electoral process.”
“Our political, economic and social development challenges can best be managed if we combine our efforts as a people to formulate realistic policies that we can pursue to its logical conclusion,” he added.