The National Democratic Congress(NDC) yesterday launched its 2022 National Delegates Congress scheduled to take place at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday December 17.
Prior to that, the party will hold its Women and Youth Conferences at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in the Central Region on Saturday December 10, 2022.
Delegates/Theme
A total of 10,936 delegates from 276 Constituencies are expected to participate in all the activities including the election of national party executives all to be supervised by the Electoral Commission at the National Congress, Women and Youth Conferences.
While 8,964 delegates would be taking part in the party’s 10th National Congress, 886 and 1,086 delegates would participate in the women and youth conferences, respectively.
It is on the theme: “Rallying for victory 2024; Ghana’s hope”.
The Chairman of the NDC’s National Delegates Congress Planning Committee, Alex Segbefia, who announced this at a press briefing in Accra entreated delegates to rally behind the party for a successful National Congress as a prerequisite to taking over power from the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP) in 2025 after victory in the 2024 general election.
He explained that owing to the current economic challenges facing the country, the only hope for Ghanaians was the NDC, saying it was necessary for the rank and file to unite to ensure victory for the party in the elections.
The launching was attended by some leading party members including a former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong; a former diplomat, Sam Pee Yalley; a former Deputy Minister of Information, James Agyenim Boateng, and a member of the NDC legal team, Baba Jamal.
The National Communications Officer of the party, Sammy Gyamfi, also attended the event.
Reason for venues
Mr Segbefia, who is also a former Deputy Chief of Staff and Minister of Health, said the party’s reason for choosing Cape Coast to host its women and youth conferences was because it held its first National Delegates Congress 30 years ago at the same venue saying “on the party’s 30th anniversary we thought it was only appropriate to go back to where we actually started”.
For the Accra Sports Stadium, he said the venue was chosen because of the large numbers involved in the congress.
Mr Segbefia stated that the national congress, women and youth conferences would have two sessions each — the opening ceremony and the voting procedures.
Accommodation, security arrangements
The Chairman of the Planning Committee further explained that the Grounds and Accommodation Committee members had made the necessary arrangements for the establishment of a Delegates Village at the University of Ghana (UG), Legon to host delegates and guests to the national delegates congress.
He said the delegates and guests were expected to be accommodated on the eve of the main congress — Friday, December 16, 2022. This, he noted, would also ensure that delegates were bussed to the congress grounds on time to avoid delays.
Mr Segbefia said security arrangements had been made for all the venues announced including the delegates village at the UG and the UCC.
“All efforts are being made to ensure smooth national congress, women and youth conferences”, he assured delegates.
The planning committee chairman equally advised delegates to ensure that they “scrutinised” the delegates list that had been sent round to afford delegates the opportunity to bring issues up, particularly regarding the various aspirants, for quick resolution.
He entreated delegates to support the events financially and used the occasion to announce the various channels through which the resources would be mobilised.
Accreditation
He told media practitioners to ensure that they secured their respective accreditation before the events saying only accredited media outlets would be permitted within the media zone.
He indicated that there would be assorted tags for different purposes while arrangements would be made to ensure that observers, and delegates from the regions were not positioned in the same zones at the venues to ensure orderliness.
