Stephen Ntim, the National Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), has called upon all NPP members to rally behind the party’s elected flagbearer following the upcoming presidential primaries scheduled for Saturday, November 4, 2023.
This call for unity comes in a bid to secure a third successive term in office during the December 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
At a joint press conference convened by the NPP’s National Executive Committee and Council of Elders on Thursday, November 2, 2023, held at the Alisa Hotel, Mr. Stephen Ntim stressed on the significance of party unity in achieving their electoral objectives, pointing out that the biggest obstacle they face is internal rather than external.
“It is evident that what stands in the way of the NPP to a third consecutive electoral victory is ourselves, our actions, and our inactions.”
“The way forward is for us to deal decisively with the widespread indiscipline, apathy, and general indifference in the Party. I want to call specifically on the four flagbearer aspirants, all of whom are capable of leading the NPP, to commit to working as a team to ensure victory, even if they fail to win on Saturday.”
“Rallying behind the eventual winner on Saturday is a necessary condition for our success in 2024 because it has the effect of promoting unity and healing the wounds that the internal contest has opened up. We must reconnect with our passion to serve, which was the driving force behind the exploits of our forebears,” the NPP National Chairman stated.
“We must undertake to let go of personal differences and disagreements. In other words, we must each prioritize the larger interest of the Party ahead of our hurts and egos. To emerge from Saturday united and poised for victory, I must be able to say to myself that the battle ahead is not about me, though I am the National Chairman of the Party.”
“We must each look at the bigger picture, bearing in mind that the grand pursuit of the New Patriotic Party is generational, and our task is to build on the gains we have inherited. Our singular mandate is to add on, not to take away or undermine our inheritance,” Mr. Ntim further admonished.
“As Chairman, working with the Steering Committee, we will take a strong view against indiscipline in the Party and related actions or inactions with the propensity to undermine our generational mandate and the goal of winning the elections in 2024,” Ntim added.
The NPP will, on Saturday, November 4, 2023, elect its flagbearer for the December 2024 general elections. From 2007 and for the last 16 years, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been the leader of the NPP. On Saturday, the party will have the opportunity to elect not only its flagbearer for the 2024 presidential elections but also a new leader to take over from President Akufo-Addo.
Four individuals are aspiring for the position: first, the Vice President of the Republic, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia; second, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, former Minister of Food and Agriculture; third, Kennedy Agyapong, the sitting member of Parliament for Assin Central in the Central Region; and lastly, Francis Addai Nimoh, a former member of Parliament for Mampong Constituency in the Ashanti Region.
