Over 6,000 delegates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are gathering today on the Heroes Park of the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi for the 2021 National Delegates’ Conference of the party.
They will be expected to consider about 38 proposed amendments to the party’s constitution while considering a number of issues aimed at helping the NPP to win the 2024 presidential election.
The party says it has put in place adequate measures to ensure that there is maximum security throughout the conference which is expected to end on Monday, December 20, 2021.
Delegates are required to show their proofs of vaccination before they can be allowed to enter the premises for the event.
A high-profile delegation, including former President John Agyekum Kufuor, President Nana Akufo-Addo, Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, NPP National Chairman Freddie Blay, the General Secretary John Boadu and members of the National Executive Committee are set to participate in the Conference.
Each NPP constituency will send 17 executives. A delegation from the Regional Council of Elders and patrons will equally be present.
Ahead of the conference, the NPP’s National Steering Committee banned the display of paraphernalia and internal campaign activities that sought to make advocacy for individual aspirants.
On that score, the Ashanti Regional Minister has called for immediate removal of all such items already mounted within the Region.
Mr Osei-Mensah warned in a press release issued on Tuesday that “failure to obey this directive by the end of the deadline [Wednesday, December 15], the Regional Minister will have no other option but to ensure removal of all such items.”
Article 10(2) sub-section one of the NPP Constitution makes provisions for holding annual delegates’ conference which shall be the supreme decision-making body for the party.
For this year, one of the key proposals that will be up for consideration is the issue of electing a presidential candidate two years before a national election.
The party selects a flagbearer two years before elections but some members of the NPP have already expressed opposing views on this as they believe the arrangement is unsustainable.
Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr, has also advised the governing party to abate the decision to elect a flagbearer two years before the next general election.
The NPP will hold its primaries in 2022 to elect the party’s leaders and choose the personality who will lead the party to the 2024 presidential election.
However, according to Kweku Baako, the project is problematic.
“Selecting a flagbearer two years ahead of the election is unsustainable, and it is not in their [NPP] interest. I think they should abandon that particular project,” he stated on Newsfile on Saturday.
There will not be any elections at the delegates’ conference in Kumasi.
Cameras have been mounted to provide surveillance at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology campus where some of the delegates will lodge, the party has said.
This year’s conference is under the theme, “Our Resolve, Our Determination, and Commitment to Ghana’s Development.”
The last delegates’ conference was held in Cape Coast in 2020.
