NPP to hold emergency conference in June

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) will by June this year hold a special national emergency delegates conference to deliberate on the various constitutional amendment proposed by the members of the party.
Consequently, the general secretary and the constitutional and legal affairs committee of the party have been tasked to collate possible concerns of party members, work on them and distribute to all wards, constituency, regional and national offices, as well as all oversees branches of the party for their perusal and comments.
According to the National Chairman of the party, Mr Peter Mac Manu, after that, the proposed amendment would be presented to the party’s congress by June and if two-thirds of the delegates agree on the amendments, they would be accepted and effected.
It is believed that one proposal that is expected to dominate the attention of the conference is the call for the widening of the number of people who constitute the delegates for the selection of constituency, regional and national executive as well as presidential candidate.
Last four years, this issue was raised at the congress at Cape Coast but could not attract greater attention but the recent interest had generated due to the processes leading to the congress that elected the presidential candidate for the 2008 election.
Party members, especially some leading members are of the view that widening the base of the members who select office holders of the party, particularly the flag bearer, would minimise the acrimony associated with such selections by a few delegates.
For the process of submitting the proposed constitutional amendment, a member must submit such amendment to the general secretary of the party two months before the congress date and the general secretary in turn would also circulate them to all branches not later than a month before congress.
Regarding the 2008 elections, Mr Mac Manu said the Heyman Committee was working around the clock to solicit the views of all members of the party as to what went wrong in the party, strengths that needed to built upon and the way forward.
He said the setting up of the committee to review previous elections was normal with the party because even in 2004 when the party won the elections, a similar committee was tasked to review issues that cropped up during the elections.
He said the issues, views, complaints and suggestions of the party members concerning the 2008 elections would form the basis for the review and strategising towards winning the 2012 elections.
Mr Mac Manu said the party hierarchy would take every issue, concerns and suggestion of every member seriously and deliberate on it to chart the cause for victory.
He said the Heyman Committee which is expected to finish its work by April this year, would also move round the country as part of measures to ensure that more members, especially those who could not read or write present their concerns and suggestions to the committee.
He said this and other effective strategies put in place by the party, were all in consonance with the party’s nature as broad base and its believe in internal democracy and the respect for every single member.