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Delegates of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) last Saturday voted to retain George Opare Addo and Dr Hanna Louisa Bisiw as National Youth and Women’s Organisers respectively.

Mr Opare Addo, popularly known as Pablo, defeated his sole contender, Yaw Brogya Genfi, the Ashanti Regional Youth Organiser, for the second time running in the Youth Organiser contest, while Dr Bisiw also beat off a challenge from Margaret Ansei aka Magoo, a former Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Suhum, to retain her position as the National Women’s Organiser.

The elections

About 1,800 delegates of the party who converged on the campus of the University of Cape Coast, participated in the exercise to to renew the four year mandate of the two national officers of the NDC.

Mr Opare Addo polled 533 votes while his sole contender, Mr Brogya Genfi, had 508, while Dr Bissiw polled 433 as against Magoo’s 362 for the women’s organiser position.

Deputies

The Deputy Youth Organisers slots went to Osman Abdullah Ayariga who polled 373 and Ruth Dela Seddoh who had 313 votes; they were elected for the position out of 10 aspirants.

The two Deputy National Women’s Organisers positions went to Abigail Elorm Mensah who had 340 votes and Felicia Dzifah Tegah who polled 260 votes.

The scuffle

Earlier, some delegates had objected to some senior national executives meddling in the elections.

After some engagements between leadership and some delegates and others in the main NEC hall, venue for the elections, all were asked to vacate the voting hall.

In the process of vacating the hall a melee ensued which led to the injury of about four persons.

The police had to fire warning shots to bring the situation under control.

The delays

The exercise which was expected to start in the morning was delayed due to some disagreement over the voters list till 7pm when voting began.

Victory speech

The two newly elected national officers — Mr Opare Addo and Dr Bisiw — in their victory speeches, said their common goal was to mobilise the youth and women across the country towards victory in the 2024 general election.

Mr Opare Addo said the ‘battle’ had been won but the real contest to wrestle for power has just began and his main aim was to mobilise the youth towards a resounding victory for the party to recapture the seat of government for the betterment of the youth of the country.

He said the common “enemy” was the New Patriotic Party and urged all to come on board in unity to work towards victory 2024.

Dr Bisiw, for her part, pledged to work hard with the women to ensure a resounding victory for the party in 2024.

Mr Opare Addo, however, expressed concerns about the interference of some senior members of the party in the elections, which he said was in ‘bad taste’.

Dr Bisiw also expressed some concerns about the methods adopted by some party members to wrest the position from her, saying “what happened to Hanna Bisiw should not happen to anybody again”.

Mr Opare Addo and Dr Bissiw thanked the delegates for reposing confidence in them and pledged to work with the grassroots for victory.

Delegates

Earlier, some delegates the Daily Graphic spoke to said they were looking for grassroots mobilisers and unifiers as leaders as they worked towards victory in 2024.

They said the message of aspirants and their record of accomplishment of works towards the party’s development would be what would inform their choice of leaders.

They indicated that those qualities would help reorganisation efforts of the party for victory in 2024