Learn from mistakes of other parties - John Boadu tells NPP

Mr. John Boadu, the Acting General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has said the party must learn lessons from history and the experiences of other incumbent political parties.

He said this when the Upper East Region had its turn of the Regional Annual Delegates Conference held in Bolgatanga on Monday.

Mr Boadu, who was reacting to some concerns raised by the party’s grassroots at the just-ended conference, said experience shows that neglecting the concerns of the grassroots could cost a political party dearly.

“If not for nothing at all, the Professor Kwesi Botchwey Report of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) should serve as a big signal to us”, he cautioned.

Mr Boadu indicated that the leadership of the party would not allow history to repeat itself and gave the directive that all regional and constituency executives through their committees must invite municipal and district chief executives including Members of Parliament into their meetings to brief them on the opportunities and challenges in their constituencies.

He urged the executives to submit reports on every meeting they hold to the national secretariat of the National Executives of the party.

In order to cement party-government relationship, the National Executives of the party, he pointed out, would outline plans to enable them to tour all the grassroots and hold discussions in camera to enable the party to address any problem that would have the tendency to affect its fortunes in the next election.

He said if all the regional and constituency executives of the party had buried their differences and worked together, the party would have won more than three parliamentary seats in the region in the last 2016 general election.

The Regional Delegates Conference, he explained, was to enable the party take a critical look at the state of development of the party and to enable them plan to solidify the party particularly at the grassroots level.

Prior to the address of the General Secretary, Mr Kofi Adda, the Member of Parliament for Navrongo Central Constituency, blamed the party’s inability to capture more parliamentary seats in the last election on the lack of leadership and transparency at the regional level.

He appealed to the national leadership of the party to be mindful of people who would come to them with lies, saying “I think this negative attitude must be stopped to help build the party”.