Story: Enoch Darfah Frimpong, Kumasi, and Rebecca Quaicoe Duho, Accra
THE Campaign Director of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Campaign Team, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, has stressed the need for members of the party to close their ranks and work towards winning the forthcoming elections.
"We need to unite our people after the national delegates congress and the parliamentary primaries for the 2008 elections so that everybody will be part of the winning team," he said.
The Campaign Director said this when he inaugurated campaign monitoring teams for the Ashanti and Greater Accra regions at separate ceremonies.
In Accra on Tuesday, he announced a 13-member team for the Greater Accra Region and in Kumasi at the weekend he set up a 22-member team for the Ashanti Region.
The Greater Accra Region Team, chaired by Prof Mike Oquaye, is expected to come up with pragmatic policies, plans and strategies, as well as liaise with the national campaign team, to win “massively” in the region.
The team includes the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Sheikh I. C. Quaye; the Mayor of Accra, Mr Stanley Nii Adjiri-Blankson; the Regional Chairman of the party, Mr Sammy Crabbe; Vida Dughatey and Alhaji Yuseef Ahmed, the Greater Accra Regional Women’s and Youth organisers, respectively.
Others are Ms Theresa Tagoe, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma Central; Nana Pabi, the former Adenta Constituency Chairman; Ms Vivian Gashon, Obaa Yaa Afrifa, Ben Annan and Ms Florence Frimpong.
The Ashanti Region Team has Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, the MP for Afigya Sekyere East and Minister of Defence, as its Chairman. Other members are Mr E. A. Owusu-Ansah, the Ashanti Regional Minister; Mr George Ayisi-Boateng, aka Onipa Nua, a founder member of the party; Mr F. F. Anto, a former Ashanti Regional Chairman; Mr Yaw Amankwah, the current Regional Chairman; Dr Mensah Bonsu; Mr David Osei; Ms Patricia Appiagyei, the KMA Chief Executive, and Nana Adu Asabre, the Asante Akyem North Constituency Chairman.
Others are Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, the MP for Manhyia and former Defence Minister; Madam Serwaa Derkyi; Nana Oppong; Madam Mary Brobbey, the Regional Women’s Organiser; Mr Osei Assibey-Antwi, the Regional Vice Chairman and Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister; Alhaji Sheriff, a former Ambassador to Guinea; Mr Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, the MP for Suame and Minister of State in charge of Parliamentary Affairs; Mr Owusu Afriyie, aka Sir John, and Mr Asare Bediako.
Dr Apraku charged them to dedicate themselves fully to the task ahead to ensure a victory for the party in the elections.
He said the members of the teams had been carefully selected to reflect the diversity of people living within the regions, saying that one of their mandates would be to forge peace among the people.
He added that the teams had the responsibility to re-energise the support base of the party in the regions and called on party faithful not to persecute those who did not vote for a particular candidate but should rather work together to retain the party in power, saying that “reconciliation is essential to this campaign”.
He said that the NPP had targeted at least 80 per cent of the valid votes to be cast in the Ashanti Region at the upcoming polls.
According to the Campaign Director, the Ashanti Region was very important to the party, for which reason it had targeted all the 39 parliamentary seats there.
With the exception of Asawasi in Kumasi, Ejura Sekyedumase and New Edubiase, the NPP has MPs in the remaining 36 constituencies in Parliament.
Mr Kan-Dapaah, on behalf of the members of the Ashanti Regional Team, thanked the national campaign team for entrusting them with such a responsibility.
He said the NPP had been losing about 30 per cent of valid votes cast in Ashanti to its opponents in previous elections but said this time round it intended to reduce its opponents’ share and go ahead to win the three seats which the NDC had been winning.
The Chairman of the Greater Accra Regional Team, Prof Oquaye, promised that he and his team would work to ensure that the party wins the general election, as well as annex 20 seats, as against the present 16, in the region.
He called for an all-embracing campaign which would identify all supporters of the party to bring them on board to maximise the campaign.
Prof Oquaye, who acknowledged that wrangling was unpreventable in any human society, promised that his team would work to identify relevant and peculiar problems facing supporters of the party to find solutions to them.
He said they would work hard to ensure that Greater Accra becomes the centrifugal point of Campaign 2008 for the party.
The Greater Accra Regional Chairman, Mr Crabbe, in an interview after the inauguration, said the Greater Accra Regional Office had begun the campaign for the 2008 elections and had generated information through research, as well as come up with an action plan for an effective campaign.
He said the team would serve as a check to ensure that its campaign was in line with that of the national programme, saying, “We should monitor to ensure that we all have one vision, one mission, one campaign, one flag bearer and one winner,” he added.
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