The Prof. Kwesi Botchway’s Committee charged to help unravel what actually led to the poor performance of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the last elections, is yet to conclude on its mandate, Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Volta Region, the political “world bank” of the party, have resorted to measures to make the NDC more active.
Whilst members await the official report of the committee’s work, the MPs, as part of their efforts to keep NDC vibrant in the region, have decided to tour the 26 constituencies to give party faithful hope that NDC has strong character and capacity base to win the next general elections.
Speaking to the Accra Times in an interview, the Deputy Minority Leader in Parliament, Hon. James Klutse Avedzi said their work was not a duplicate of the Prof. Kwesi Botchway’s Committee but rather to rekindle the spirit of members of the party in the region to see the loss of the party as not the end of their beloved NDC.
The Volta Caucus’s tour is to re-assure members that, “Yes the party lost the elections, we are working to find out the main cause of the defeat, we have hope that as a strong party, NDC has a strong capacity base to come back to power come 2020”, Hon. Avedzi pointed out.
Hon. James Avedzi, who is also the Ketu North law-maker, observed that their tour of the region shows that, the NDC is still strong and alive on the ground.
According to him, the constituency executives they met were happy and expressed their readiness to convey the message of hope to the branches.
He said the Caucus, zoned the region into four and divided the 25 MPs into four groups of which his group visited constituencies such as Akan, Buem, Biakoye and Ketu North and that so far they have been able to tour 18 constituencies out of the 26 constituencies in the Volta Region.
He also hinted this paper that, the party intends to open nomination for Branch elections on 22nd July to 1st September 2017, following vetting of interested persons to ensure true members of the party are allowed to represent the party.
After this process, he said election of Branch executives which would be supervised by the constituency executives would start on the 7th and end on 22nd of September of this year.
Hon James Klutse Avedzi conceded that elections are won at the branch level, hence the decision of the party in the region to make the branches very visible.
Positions to be contested for at the branch elections, include chairman, secretary, communications officer, organizer, treasurer, vice chairman, women organizer and youth organizer and one person would be appointed as a member.
He told the Accra Times that, he believes strongly that the findings of the Prof. Kwesi Botchway’s committee’s work would favor the majority.
On his part, the Chairman of the Volta Regional Caucus and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho West constituency, Hon. Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzra said the decision of the caucus was to make sure all 26 constituencies in the region are solid and more united ahead of the branches, constituencies, regional and the national elections in 2020.
He maintained that the engagement was to enable the MPs to report to them happenings in Parliament and what the minority was doing to keep the NPP administration in check as well as push them to ensure good governance and also pursue the completion of all infrastructural projects started under the erstwhile NDC administration.
The tour, according Hon. Bedzrah brought the caucus to speed up what was happening in the various constituencies after the December general elections.
He also noted that, the caucus was more than determined to make sure the 26 constituencies in the region are retained, hence, the decision of the caucus to adopt the Krachi East constituency, which is now in the custody of the elephant family.
As an alternative government in waiting, the caucus want all constituencies working together in unity ahead of 2020 elections, because the MPs want a solid Volta region in 2020.
Hon. Bedzra who led one of the four groups, said the executives were surprised to see MPs from other parts of the region seeking audience with them in the name of party unity, and assured them the opposition “ We find ourselves is to afford us to learn lessons and take political power for the continuation of the massive infrastructural and economic development started by the NDC”.
A member of the caucus , Hon. Daniel Kwasi Asiamah, stated that, the MPs efforts are to ensure all members work together and make sure the party comes together as one unit for the benefit of the NDC going forward.
STORY BY: Simon Agianab
