Prior to the 2024 election, the two major political parties, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), have started separate negotiations to settle differences between their respective memberships.
Following their hotly contested internal elections, the leadership of both parties has decided to take this action to ensure peace and unity.
Leading the attempts for reconciliation inside their respective parties are the National Chairmen of the two largest political parties, Stephen Ayensu Ntim of the NPP and Johnson Asiedu Nketiah of the NDC.
Last Sunday, Mr. Ntim began the reconciliation process for the ruling party in Cape Coast, the capital of the Central Regional, while Mr. Asiedu Nketiah started the process for his party last Friday in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital.
At the NPP meeting in Cape Coast, which was also attended by some of the party’s top figures and members of the national and regional executive, internal disputes that could harm the party’s prospects for success in the Central Region in 2024 were discussed.
The General Secretary, Justin Frimpong Kodua, the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, the Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Ministers of Defense, Dominic Nitiwul, and Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Hawa Koomson, were all present at the meeting.
In his welcome speech, the party’s Central Regional Chairman, Robert Kutin Junior, stated that deliberate efforts must be made to bring the party together in time for the 2024 election.
He claimed that when the party laced its boots to break the eight, it would use the engagement to right its wrongs, improve its rights, and reason together.
His welcome speech was followed by a private engagement.
Speaking to journalists in Kumasi, where the NDC held its reconciliation meeting, Mr. Asiedu Nketiah said the party decided to start the reconciliation process after the controversies experienced during the most recent internal elections in order to bring the rank and file of the party together and ensure a united front ahead of the 2024 general election.
He said that the party’s reconciliation drive, which got its start in the Ashanti Region, had made tremendous progress.
“We take the Ashanti Region to be a critical region going into the 2024 general election and we couldn’t afford to leave any situation of conflict here unresolved. So we came to join the Council of Elders and the Regional Executive Committee in meetings and I am happy to report that we have made significant gains towards reconciliation of the party in the region” he said.
