I Need Every Member On NPP Campaign Trail � Fred Oware

An aspiring National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Fred Oware, has expressed the wish that party members will not do anything that will encourage others to stay out of the loop. He said that as the party was in the process of electing its officers at the polling station, constituency, regional and national levels, he was troubled by some of the issues related to the elections and therefore enjoined party members to stay focused, united and committed for the 2016 victory. �As an aspiring National Chairman, I really need to have every single member on board rather than having fragmented members,� he told the Daily Graphic on Friday. He, therefore, called on the delegates to ensure that they used their positions to forge oneness and common purpose at their various centres. Mr Oware, who is currently the Vice-Chairman of the NPP, will hopefully contest the position with incumbent Chairman, Mr Jake Otanka Obetsebi Lamptey, Mr Paul Afoko, a leading member of the party who, it is believed, is making inroads in his campaign, and Mr Steven Ntim, who has contested the position in past elections. The electoral and campaign processes have already begun, with the final election for National Officers scheduled for March 1, 2014. Experience According to Mr Oware, he has gained invaluable experience during the past four years as the First Vice Chairman and also developed exceedingly useful contacts, which, when put at the party�s disposal, would ensure electoral victory. He also said that as a unifier, he had developed relations both within the party and outside it,especially from other parties, to chalk up electoral success. �I am convinced that personal character, commitment to one�s duty, discipline and the development of strategies are what I will bring to bear as chairman, rather than any other position. �I find myself in politics because I am saddened by our economic downturn and high wastage of our resources through mismanagement and corruption,� he told the Daily Graphic on Friday confidently while adducing reasons why he was aspiring to move from the vice chairperson position of the NPP to become the substantive national chair. Consequently, Mr Oware explained that he was offering to contest the chairmanship of the NPP to rally all groupings within the party and bring them together to become a strong, united and focused party. �I will bring effective corporate values and principles to bear on the internal politics and management to enhance mass mobilisation and also make the party attractive to swing and floating voters,� he stated. Development in freedom In the view of Mr Oware, the NPP was a conservative party that strongly believed in development in freedom, saying: �This freedom is anchored on rule of law, personal freedoms, tolerance for others, free market policies and strong family values.� He gave the assurance that he was personally committed to these ideals and firmly believes that �our dear country needs us all, especially those in industry, to come together to develop Ghana on sustainable and sound economic programmes to improve on our living conditions and give hope to the next generation.� Winning Election 2016 He said that the primary objective of any political party, beyond the coming together of like-minded people was to win elections and offer good governance. To do this, he said, �the party required a leader who would evolve right strategies, build bridges and bring everybody to the centre to help raise resources and motivate foot soldiers above all to make sure that we win election 2016.� �My understanding is that in both 2008 and 2012 elections, the party was carried by the presidential candidate into the elections. This time round, it is the party which must carry and lead the presidential candidate into the elections,� Mr Oware opined when he was asked why the NPP had suffered losses in recent elections. He explained that the party structures, down to the grass-roots level, would have to start working long before the party picked its flag bearer instead of waiting for the flag bearer to activate party structures to work. On a very personal basis, leading into the 2012 polls, Mr Oware mentioned that he selected some orphan constituencies and supported them with logistics and money and �I am glad to say that we were successful in some of them.� �As a national chairman, I believe that I will be better positioned to play this role on a major scale,� he assured.