On April 29th, the NPP USA organized a colourful and memorable youth forum and dinner dance on the theme “Our Youth, Our Strength, Our Hope, Our Future”.
The event was held in the conference hall of the Royal Regency Hotel, Yonkers, New York.
The conference, which attracted over 200 participants, was open to all members of the New Patriotic Party and sympathizers and had two sessions – The forum and Dinner Dance.
The occasion was graced by the Chairperson of NPP USA, Mrs. Obaa Yaa Amponsah Frimpong and H.E. Daniel Kingsley Atta Boafo, Consul General, New York Mission. Her Excellency Samira Bawumia, 2nd Lady of the Republic of Ghana was the Special Guest of Honour.
The panel at the forum were made up of Linda Asante, Deputy CEO of National Petroleum Agency, Jerry Osei-Poku, NPP Eastern Regional Organizer, Dr. Issah Imoro, Lecturer, University of Development Studies, Napaga Tia Sulemana, National Coordinator, Special Development Initiatives, Office of the President, Richard Gyamfi, Head of International Affairs, Ghana Scholarship Secretariat, Francis E. Donkor, Cincinnati Chapter Chairman and former NPP-USA Deputy Youth Organizer, Shani Abubakar, Tallahassee Florida Chapter Chairman and Eric Agyarko Washington DC Chapter Youth Organizer and Perpetual Lomokie, Former Deputy National Youth Organizer.
Topics discussed at the forum covered a number of areas including the things the party is doing to energize our base toward election 2024, mentoring programs to equip the youth with the requisite leadership skills/knowledge to understand and deploy patriotism, nationalism, good governance, and visionary leadership, and proposing models, structures, and approaches to setting up and running a leadership mentoring program for NPP youth.
The NPP-USA Youth Organizer, Danny Antwi spoke on the achievements of the NPP-USA Youth Wing including dining with the Kumasi Children’s Home on Good Friday 2023, donation of rice, oil, geisha tinned fish and key soap to 51 widows and a soccer competition to encouraging the youth of our party to focus on sensitizing and increasing the capacity of youth in peacebuilding, co-existing, and leadership development.
He noted that “The NPP Youth are looking for more opportunities to join the bus in helping the NPP retain power and develop our country, Ghana. I strongly believe we can be the agents of change, positive change, that the party needs and requires to break the eight in Ghana’s political history”.
He pleaded with our party members to do away with sentimentalism and the impression of enmity, greediness, backbiting among ourselves, creating unnecessary enemies, and allowing our opponents, the NDC, and the media to set an agenda for us as a political party.
Mr. Kwabena Appiah, MD State Housing Company, said the youth are the future of our party and they are the ones who will inherit the tradition we leave behind. “It is up to us to ensure that we leave them a tradition that is better than the one we inherited”, he emphasized. He also said there is a need to create a party that is just, equitable, and sustainable and must work towards a tradition where every party member has access to opportunities for growth and development.
The chairman of the occasion, H.E Daniel Kingsley Atta Boafo, Consul General, New York Mission, assured the youth and members present that the Akufo-Addo and Bawumia administration has done so much, and are still doing great work despite the hardship that affected us in areas such as education, health, roads security and other infrastructural development.
The Chairperson of the NPP-USA Branch, Obaa Yaa Frimpong highlighted the discussions of youth today in our dear country Ghana, which is the lack of trust young people have for the existing political, economic, and social systems.
She said, “As a nation, we must honour them with transparency, accountability, trust, and a focus on stakeholder engagement where they are offered a seat at the table to discuss issues of relevance that are extremely important to them since this will be key to meeting their generation’s ambitions and expectations. We must also entrust in them the power to take the lead to create meaningful change. The next generation is the most important and most affected stakeholders when talking about our global future – and we owe them more than this”.
The Special Guest of Honour, Her Excellency Samira Bawumia, 2nd Lady of the Republic of Ghana spoke about the great achievements of former President John Kufuor on roads and the achievements of the Akkufo-Addo – Bawumia government as compared to that of the NDC Mills – Mahama administrations.
She also testified that the Nana Addo – Bawumia government has appointed a number of young people like Kwabena Ampofo Appiah, Napaga Tia Sulemana, Nana Yaw Koranteng into important positions in government, who have made us all proud. She said we need to think about our future leaders, think about the direction of the party and its prosperity as we make decisions about the future of our party, because today’s leaders were yesterday’s youth and today’s youth will be tomorrow’s leaders. She emphasized that we need a strong base to break the eight and that we need to stay the course and ensure victory in the next election. “I believe it’s fair to state right now that the journey to victory in 2024 has officially begun”, she said.
Members enjoyed themselves with Ghanaian and continental food and drinks and danced to the tune of Ghanaian music. “We really enjoyed it a lot and dispersed with a sincere hope that such mega events will be organized again to strengthen our party, NPP”, one of the members of the party expressed his joy after the program.
Certificates were given to Patrons, Chapter Youth Organizers, philanthropists while plaques were given to the Chairperson of USA and the 2nd lady
