General News of Friday, 1 December 2017
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2017-12-01
John Boadu, Acting General Secretary of the NPP
The National Council of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has resolved that all persons serving as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) who wish to contest as parliamentary candidates in constituencies where the party has a sitting Member of Parliament (MP) must resign from their current positions at least three years before the national general election.
Regional chairpersons
Equally the party has resolved that regional chairpersons, regional secretaries, regional treasurers, constituency chairpersons, constituency secretaries and constituency treasurers are not eligible to contest as parliamentary candidates in constituencies where the party has a sitting MP unless they resign at least three years before the national general election.
These are key outcomes adopted by the party’s National Council at its fifth general meeting in Accra on November 8, 2017.
Orphan constituencies
Sharing aspects of the resolution with the press in Accra last Wednesday, the acting General Secretary, Mr John Boadu emphasised that these decisions only applies to constituencies where the party had sitting MPs and does not apply to orphan constituencies where the party does not have sitting MPs.
According to Mr Boadu, the party will hold an extraordinary national delegates conference on Sunday, December 17, in Kumasi to consider and adopt the proposed amendments to the party’s constitution.
Expanded regional executive
Mr Boadu said the council had directed all 10 regional executive committees to organise expanded regional executive committee meetings comprising constituency executives to brief them on key amendment proposals that would be considered for adoption at the extraordinary conference.
The acting general secretary said the council also passed a resolution to extend the mandate of all serving officers of the party at each level by three months following the expiration of their four-year mandate to allow for primaries to be conducted.
Calendar of activities
Mr Boadu said the council also approved the calendar for programmes and activities of the party from November 2017 to June 2018 saying that on December 7 this year there would be an interdenominational service for peaceful elections as well as marking the first anniversary of the NPP victory at the 2016 election.
National delegates conference
He said December 30 had been set aside as the deadline for updating membership register in preparedness towards the upcoming primaries with polling station elections in all the 29,000 polling stations across the country slated from January 17 to January 21, 2018.
He said the election of electoral area coordinators would take place between 26 and 29 January, 2018, while the election of constituency executives would take place from February 21 to February 24, 2018.
Mr Boadu said the date for the regional delegates conference had been slated from April 21 to April 24, 2018, and that the national delegates conference had been fixed for June 15 to June 17, 2018, with the venue yet to be determined.
