The National Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Yaw Boateng-Gyan, says the party has mapped out strategies for an aggressive membership drive to ensure that it increased the number of parliamentary seats, as well as secure a landslide victory for President Mills in 2012. He said apart from the government's good policies and programmes that would generally make the electorate vote for the NDC, the party would leave no stone unturned to woo more members, especially the youth, into its fold. Briefing the Daily Graphic about the strategy, Mr Boateng-Gyan mentioned some of the programmes as employment and skills training opportunities, training of party executives at all levels and early identification and education of polling agents. He said beginning from next month, the party, on its own, would identify the youth willing to acquire skills in carpentry, masonry, mechanics and other vocations. The NDC National Organiser said the identified youth, to be called 'Artisan Squads" would be made to undergo hands-on training under master craftsmen, who would be assisted by way of undertaking construction contracts from district assemblies. He said while the masters would be earning income from the execution of the contracts, the squads would also be gaining skills. Mr Boateng-Gyan said the skills training was initiated just before the NDC left office in 2000, adding that most of the people who benefited from the training were able to build low-cost houses for a number of people, especially some estate agencies in Dormaa Ahenkro, where the pilot project was established. With regard to the farming, the party would secure large tracts of arable land and other inputs and seek support from the Youth in Agricultural programme to ensure that such youth, with technical assistance, embarked on large-scale agriculture. He said the NDC would secure ready market and guaranteed prices for such produce in order not to let their toil be in vain, adding, "these would be open to all youth who are interested and not for only NDC members". According to Mr Boateng-Gyan, the programmes were the party's contribution towards the "Investing in people" and also assisting in abating the increasing rate of the rural-urban drift. "The NDC was of the strong conviction that if 1,000 youth from other political parties benefit from the programme, get skills and become economically empowered, at least 600 of them would show appreciation by voting for the NDC," he said. He said apart from those inclusive job opportunities, the party had scheduled other exclusively party programmes for its members, which included holding seminars for constituency organisers. "This is to put them in readiness to identify credible and loyal party polling agents for early training for voters registration exercise and the 2012 general election," Mr Boateng-Gyan added. He stated that constituency executives would be taught data collection so that they would be able to compile the names and other data on all paid-up members of the party at constituency levels. The move, he explained, was for the party to assess its strength. Mr Boateng-Gyan stated that apart from the national "Meet the Press" series and the yearly people's assembly, ministers of state would be made to meet NDC members to explain at first-hand the government's policies to the members. The aim, he said, was to equip the members with adequate information to be able to explain government policies and programmes, convince others to join the NDC and counter negative propaganda from the opponents of the government. Source: Daily Graphic