WOO INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE TO DFP — ZIEDENG (PAGE 17)

THE General Secretary of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Mr Bede Ziedeng, has advised the leadership of the various constituencies of the party to strive to woo influential people in their areas to join the party.
He explained that teachers, chiefs, pastors, local businessmen and women, big time farmers, among other opinion leaders, had the capacity to influence the thinking of the ordinary people to embrace the virtues of the DFP.
“Beyond yourselves, you need to increase our numbers in order to win the upcoming general election,” he stressed.
Addressing a DFP delegates congress in Sunyani, the general secretary said even though the DFP was a young party, “we know what it takes to organise and win elections as we are capable people of doing”.
“Go down to the people at the grass roots, because the grass roots are the main branch of the DFP and make sure that every branch is very effective in the organisation of the party,” he declared, adding “you don’t need money to campaign, but your ideas could do the trick for the DFP”.
Mr Zeideng also urged the leadership at the constituencies, as a matter of urgency, to organise their parliamentary primaries to elect candidates who would lead the party in the campaign.
He stated that 50 per cent of the constituencies in the region were ready to hold their primaries and also confirm their executives at their respective constituency congresses.
The general secretary gave the assurance that after the primaries, the leadership of the party would provide seed money for political rallies that would be organised at the various constituencies, noting that the party’s leadership was working towards the provision of logistics.
The Patron of the party, Dr Obed Asamoah, explained that the DFP was formed to call for a paradigm shift from the old ways politics was being practised in the country, especially insults by political serial callers, which, he said, did not augur well for the people of the country.
He stated that such calls at the various FM stations had the potential to ignite violence, adding that the DFP wanted to shift from the culture of political violence, which some of the political parties were noted for.
According Mr Asamoah, the future of the country rested with the youth and that explained why the DFP had chosen the youngest flag bearer, who is 43 years of age, and expressed delight at the large number of the youth at the congress.
For his part, the flag bearer of DFP, Mr Emmanuel Ansah Antwi, expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the delegates who elected him to lead the party in the December elections at the party’s recent congress in Accra.
He advised the party supporters and sympathisers to register in their numbers when the Electoral Commission (EC) reopened the register in the course of the year.
Mr Antwi explained that the star, as the symbol of the party, depicted a bright future of the country, which, he said, rested with the DFP, saying that various governments had come and gone, but there had not been any drastic change in the lives of the people.
According to Mr Antwi, neither the New Patriotic Party (NPP) nor the National Democratic Congress (NDC) could solve the problems facing the country, but when given the mandate, the DFP would change the fortunes of the people for posterity to appreciate, adding, “We need to fight for the transformation of the country”.
The National Organiser of the DFP, Mr Anto Piesie, urged the supporters of the party to pool their resources in order to campaign effectively to wrest power in the December elections, saying that they should not wait for the national executive to send down money before embarking on campaigns.