Iddi Yire, GNA
Accra, Oct. 19, GNA –
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Youth Organiser hopefuls on
Thursday called for the strengthening of the youth base of the Party.
The NDC National Youth
aspirants, which included; Mr Wonder Madilo, Mr George Opare Addo and Mr
Yaw Brogya Genfi, made the call in Accra, during pre-election debate for
aspirants in the 2018 national Executive Elections of the NDC.
Organiser aspirants,
strengthening the youth base of the party would go a long way to deliver
victory to the Party in the 2020 General Elections.
The debate was
organised by the Centre for Social Democracy (CDS) Ghana in collaboration with
the NDC and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Ghana.
The initiative seeks
to offer voters the opportunity to hold winning candidates accountable to
statements and promises them made during campaigns; and also create a level
playing field for aspirants to articulate their policies and reach out to
voters.
The maiden debate was
held for aspirants of the National Women’s Organiser and National Youth
Organiser slots.
However, that of other
national positions lined up for the next session is slated for November 1 and
2, 2018.
Mr Opare Addo said the
NDC had core values; and as such, there was the need to inculcate
accountability and probity principles in the youth and underscored the need to
reform its youth front in respect to, giving young people the opportunity to
serve in various roles.
He said one major
challenge the NDC faced was the problem with middle and upper class; where over
the years the Party had been regarded as a grassroots Party and yet nobody
wanted to remain at the grassroots.
Mr Opare Addo noted
that when voted into office, he would re-brand the NDC by giving the youth wing
a new face to attract young people who would engage in national debates
especially in student politics; to drive the ideologies of the NDC party.
Mr Madilo on his part
said the youth wing needed a proper database system to help formulate policies
that would provide sustainable jobs for the youth and if voted into office, he
would rejuvenate every cadre front with an objective of mobilising people to
help the Party to attain more votes.
He said again, NDC’s
Tertiary Education Institution Network (TEIN) must have a constitution that
would drive and fit into the ideologies of the Party.
Mr Brogya Genfi said,
he envisioned a strong youth wing which would be well positioned to become an
effective election tool for the 2020 polls and he would restructure the youth
wing and build their strength from the branch to the national levels.
He mentioned a youth
manifesto which would be extracted from the main Party manifesto to help reach
out to people in their institutions to promote the vision the NDC Party had for
the youth.
“As an upgrade
document, young people will be interested in accessing it and getting to
understand what the NDC stands for; this will be the best strategy to get young
people to join the NDC”, he added
Mr Lee Ocran, a Member
of the NDC Debate Advisory Board said globally, pre-election debates were
becoming an integral part of democracies as they contributed to democratic
culture in diverse ways.
He said, the aspirants
have had the opportunity to speak to issues and outline how they intended to
address them, instead of engaging in personal attacks.
GNA