I never said 'No NPP varsity certificate, no appointment' - John Boadu clarifies

John Boadu, the General Secretary of the NPP, has clarified what he meant by the comments he made a while back to the effect that all party appointments will require a minimum of a university certificate.

According to him, those were not his exact words for which he has "denied making the comments to the effect that future appointments in an NPP government shall be based on certification acquired from 'NPP Varsity."

In a statement dated March 31, 2021, John Boadu explained that his comments were taken out of context, misreported and misrepresented in the public as he was only responding to a question.

"He said, for the avoidance of doubt that, the NPP was rather putting up a Party Training Institute to among other things, educate its members on the party’s philosophy, values, history, political strategy and communications with the view to imbuing in them the very tenets of democratic governance and practice from the perspective of centre-right ideals, which underpin the founding of the NPP tradition.

"The NPP is thus only setting up a Training Institute, and NOT a Party University properly so called, as reported, he stressed," the statement said.

Read the full statement below:

The General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu, has denied making comments to the effect that future appointments in an NPP government shall be based on certification acquired from ‘NPP Varsity’. He was responding to comments attributed to him and widely reported in some media portals suggesting that he [John Boadu] had said that if one does not attend the NPP Varsity, he/she would not be considered for appointment to serve in an NPP government.

But, speaking to the media on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, the NPP Chief Scribe set the records straight on the matter, describing the story as misleading and a misreportage. He stated categorically that, the NPP has, at no point, decided to set up a Party University, and so, he certainly couldn’t have said that persons who do not attend the so called “NPP University” and obtain qualifying certificates, will not be considered for political appointment, now or in the future.

He said, for the avoidance of doubt that, the NPP was rather putting up a Party Training Institute to among other things, educate its members on the party’s philosophy, values, history, political strategy and communications with the view to imbuing in them the very tenets of democratic governance and practice from the perspective of centre-right ideals, which underpin the founding of the NPP tradition. The NPP is thus only setting up a Training Institute, and NOT a Party University properly so called, as reported, he stressed.

The decision to set up an NPP Training Institute, according to the Party General Secretary, was taken by the party’s highest decision-making body, the National Delegates Conference during the 2018 National Conference in Kumasi. This is in line with the spirit of the 1992 Constitution particularly Article 55, which guarantees the right for the formation of political parties to participate in shaping the political will of the people, and to provide public education based on its ideals.

“All that I said was that, the party is now ready to fully implement the decision of our highest decision making [national delegates conference]. The technical committee that we formed to workout the mechanics for the setting up of the Training Institute, which includes the Concept Paper and Implementation Roadmap have finished and submitted their Report to the party, awaiting final approval from NEC, which is expected to meet soon. Details of the implementation modalities will thereafter be made public.

The Institute is expected to offer training and public education to party office holders and NPP government appointees as well as ordinary party members in line with its founding principles. It is envisaged that in the medium to long term, appointees and potential appointees in an NPP government, as well as officers and potential officers of the party at the national, regional, constituency, electoral area and polling station levels would have received some training at the Institute.

And so, contrary to what has been attributed to me in the media, I never categorically said, and couldn’t have said that there will be no appointment or positions for members of the party who fail to attend the NPP Varsity, because there is no such thing like NPP Varsity, to start with”, John Boadu emphasized.