Aspiring NPP Youth organisers
With a few days for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to hold congress to elect new national executives, one critical position to look out for is the National Youth Organiser, which is expected to be keenly contested.
Abanga Yakubu Fusani, Salam Mustapha, Prince Kamal Gumah and Michael Osei Boateng would battle for the position, with all of them promising dedicated and selfless leadership to ‘Break the 8’.
The four aspirants shared their visions and dreams for the NPP during a youth leadership dialogue at the Danquah Institute yesterday.
Salam Mustapha
Outlining his vision for the party, Salam Mustapha, the former Deputy National Youth Organiser of the NPP, vowed to build a strong, resilient and fearless youth for the party.
“In doing this, I would take care of the young people in the party, and this will be premised on my ability to resource the youth wing to build enough capacity to lead. I will also provide opportunities for young people in the party, and ensure the aggressive mobilization of first-time voters,” he said yesterday.
In his opinion, young people for the party represent the pull factors and elements needed to help contribute towards the realisation of the ‘Break the eight’ agenda.
“About 70% of the Ghanaian population is youthful. This clearly delineates that Ghana is a youthful population and no political party can win elections without having majority of the young people believing and following the party towards victory,” he said.
He intends to spend most of his time working with the grassroots to better their lots.
“I will do this by standing with them and working with them to ensure that grassroots problems we face are attended to swiftly and solutions proffered. Attempts to give some respite to the young people in this world can… if you are able to do that, they are more confident and would help put effort to break the 8. I believe that the young people in this party remains the biggest resource of the political enterprise,” he added
Prince Kamal Gumah
Taking his turn, Prince Kamal Gumah expressed his determination to re-energize the youth to fight aggressively for the party to break the eight.
“We need organizers willing to fight for this party. I’ll make sure that the youth are actively involved in the party’s work for them to feel the party is for them. I will make our youth organizers get opportunities to work for the party,” he promised.
He also vowed to work towards the creation of welfare programmes for the party’s youth organisers and the Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) executive members.
He intends to do this by committing efforts to establish national and regional youth secretariats across the country to ensure youth participation and inclusiveness.
“I will facilitate the construction of a permanent national youth secretariat, a model regional youth secretariats across the 16 regions, and set up a national call centre at the National Secretariat of the youth wing for collating direct information and feedback,” he said.
He further assured that, if given the nod, he would institute measures to empower TESCON and other youth volunteer groups to make them more vibrant for recruitment, training and capacity building as well as volunteerism.
“I will ensure budgetary allocation for regional and constituency youth wing programmes and activities, profile all youth organisers and deputies as priority persons for opportunities as well as ensure that jobs go directly to the constituency youth organisers for the benefit of registered youth and youth groups at the grassroots’ level,” he added.
Abanga Yusif Fusani
Mr Abanga Fusani Yakubu, who was not physically present because he was on a campaign tour, has downplayed criticisms that his campaign promises are over-ambitious and not feasible, saying realistic and innovative policies are what would help the party ‘Break the eight’ governance cycle.
According to Abanga, his promises are borne out of well-thought-out plans to wean the youth wing from dependence on the mother party and make it a world class independent wing.
He further promised to restructure the youth wing through the establishment of constituency youth wing secretariats and appointment of diaspora coordinator.
He has also promised to establish campaign organs at the national youth secretariat with capacity to mobilise logistics and resources based on research and data for youth empowerment purposes.
He also vowed to rebrand and retool the party’s students’ wing, the Tertiary Students Confederacy of the NPP (TESCON-NPP).
Michael Osei Boateng
Also absent due to a campaign tour, the NPP Ahafo Regional Organizer and an aspiring National Youth Organizer, Michael Osei Boateng, is poised to strengthen the capabilities of the youth.
According to the youth organizer hopeful, should he win and take the reins of office as Youth Organizer, several programmes will be created by his administration for the benefit of party foot soldiers. Michael Osei Boateng also intends to strengthen existing youth structures to deliver hope through employment generation
“I will build it in terms of structures and human capacities. We should look at the youth wing structures that will serve our people’s rights. My entire executive will also ensure we create a youth council, which will decide for the youth in the party in all sectors,” he said.
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