The University of Cape Coast (UCC) will drone with activities tomorrow as delegates of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) converge on the campus to elect the party’s National Women’s Organiser and Youth Organiser and their deputies to steer the affairs of the party for the next four years.
Already the venue for the women and youth conferences of the party is awash with posters of the various aspirants contesting for the positions.
Why Cape Coast?
The Chairman of the NDC’s National Congress Planning Committee, Alex Segbefia, at a media briefing in Accra last Monday, 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.
“On the party’s 30th anniversary, we thought it was only appropriate to go back to where we started,” he told the media.
Aspirants
The contests for both the Women and Youth Organiser positions are two-horse races between the incumbents and their sole contenders.
The incumbent Women Organiser, Dr. Hanna Louisa Bisiw, is being challenged by a former Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Suhum, Margaret Ansei, while the incumbent Youth Organiser, George Opare Addo, would slug it out with the Ashanti Regional Youth Organiser of the NDC, Brogya Genfi.
The Deputy Women’s Organiser position has four aspirants. They are Abigail Akwabea Elorm Mensah, Felicia Dzifa Tegah, Jessie Adams, and Hajia Alijata Sulemana.
For the position of deputy youth organizer, there are 10 contestants. They are Osman Abdulai Ayariga, Ruth Dela Seddoh, Bright Nudokpo Honu, Sulemana Abdul Karim, and Mohammed Abubakari Sadiq Gombilla.
The rest are Kabiru Ahmed, Eric Dadson, Pendilock Owusu Asare, Obed Opintan, and Jude Sekley.
Delegates
About 1,375 delegates are expected to attend the conference from all 275 constituencies across the country.
They include 235 from the Ashanti Region, 115 from the Central, 165 from the Eastern, 170 from the Greater Accra, and 90 each from the Volta and the Northern regions.
The Western Region has 85 delegates, the Upper East, 75; the Bono, 60, the Bono East, 55; the Upper West, 55; the Western North 45; Oti, 40; the Savannah, 35; the North East 30 and the Ahafo, 30.
They include the national youth organizer and his two deputies, women parliamentarians, regional women’s organizers and their deputies, accredited TEIN women’s commissioners, and accredited TEIN youth representatives.
LOC
The Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the elections, Dr. Vincent Assanful, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the region was ready to host the delegates.
“We have all the major logistical works done and working on the finishing and we are hoping for a beautiful conference,” he stated.
He said both internal security and external security arrangements had been done to ensure an incident-free conference.
He said he was sure some other contenders for the various national positions were likely to pass through the list but they were not confirmed yet.
He urged delegates not to do anything that would mar the beauty of the conference.
“In the end, someone must win and we must not do anything to mar the beauty of the conference or bring the name of the party into disrepute. In the end, the party must be the winner and come out stronger,” he stated.
Police/EC preparedness
Meanwhile, the Central Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Alex Amenyo, said the police were ready to provide adequate security for the conference to ensure it was peaceful.
“We are deploying enough personnel with support from some units in Accra, so I can say that we are ready in terms of ensuring adequate security for the period of the conference,” he stated.
The Regional Directorate of the Electoral Commission has also expressed its readiness to conduct and supervise the election on behalf of the party.