NPP Takes Measures For Victory - Donkoh

Francis Ejaku Donkoh, Central Regional Youth Organiser of NPP

Francis Ejaku Donkoh, Central Regional Youth Organiser of NPP The Central Regional youth organiser of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Francis Ejaku Donkoh, has said the party will reclaim all the seats it lost in the 2008 elections, come December 2012.

According to him, the party hierarchy had over the last three years identified the challenges that led to their abysmal performance in the 2008 polls and had put in place measures to ensure that they post a better result in this year’s elections.

The NPP lost eight of the 16 seats it had from 2008, losing all nine coastal constituencies in the region to the NDC.

Enumerating the problems that led to the massive loss, Mr Donkoh said the processes leading to the party’s primaries that selected parliamentary candidates for the 2008 elections were fraught with acrimony and apathy.

He also said the performance of some of the Metropolitan/Municipal and District Chief Executives did not help the party’s agenda.

He,however, allayed fears that the result it had from the last election signalled a rejection of the party by the electorate, saying it rather provided an opportunity for the electorate to compare the two main political parties in the country.

Mr Donkoh was speaking to graphic.com.gh at Elmina, where he represented the NPP at the just ended West African Youth and Democracy Conference, attended by youth organisers of ruling and major opposition parties from 16 West African states.

The event was organised by pro democracy think tank, the Institute for Democratic and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) International.

Participating youth leaders deliberated on ways of positively engaging young people in party politics in the sub region.

Mr Donkoh contends that even though President John Atta Mills was a son of the region, the people in the region would not have any monumental achievement on which they would retain him in office in December 2012.

He said the NDC was yet to fulfill the promises it made to residents of the region in 2008, which includes a pledge to construct the Cape Coast stadium and to reconstruct the Kotokoraba Market.

“Our Presidential candidate has made a solemn promise to make education free till the senior high school level, which is a critical policy that our people in this region need. If everybody has access to quality education, then we would have the potential to develop. So I believe that if we endorse the candidature of the NPP and its parliamentary aspirants, everybody in this region would benefit immensely from this pro poor policy” he said.

He also said the party was going to among other things, construct a fishing mall at Moree and Manford; two major fishing towns in the region to serve as a one stop shop for fishermen in the region to have access to all their working implements at subsidised prices without having to travel to Accra, if voted into office.

He, however, appealed to the party’s parliamentary aspirants in the region to take active control of the campaign. According to him, that was the surest way to ensure victory for themselves and the party’s presidential candidate.