The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has held the opening session of a three day retreat at Mankesim in the Central Region to deliberate on the way forward for the party towards building on the restructuring process for elections 2012. The retreat is the first since the Kumasi Conference that saw the election of the new National Executives. The forum is to provide the opportunity for both the old and new executives to evaluate the state of the party and put into perspective where the outgone Peter Mac Manu-led team have reached in their bid to restructure to recapture power in 2012. And also provide a platform for the new National Chairman Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey and his team of executives to take off towards Agenda 2012. In his opening remarks the National Chairman, Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey said throughout the past one year and over, there have been many discussions within party and in the wider public about why the NPP lost the 2008 elections. "Enough of that. The real issue facing us from today onwards is how we are going to win the 2012 elections." Source: Curtis Perry K. Okudzeto Deputy Director of Communication (NPP) Below is the speech delivered by Jake Obetsebi Lamptey at the retreat, Fellow participants, our friends of the media. Today is international women’s day. We extend our best wishes to our mothers, wives and daughters across the country. We will continue to recognise the validity of Dr Aggrey’s dictum that to educate a woman is to educate a nation. We will continue to seek expansion of opportunities for our women to enable them contribute even more meaningfully to national development. I welcome you all to the Central Region, which is the birthplace of our tradition, the Danquah-Dombo-Busia Tradition. It was from this region that our forebears started the mass organisation of Ghanaians into a political party. We were the first mass party of the Gold Coast, and were driven in that by our belief in the ordinary Ghanaian to be in control of his or her destiny. In the past one year and over, there have been many discussions within party and in the wider public about why NPP lost the 2008 elections. Enough of that. The real issue facing us from today onwards is HOW WE ARE GOING TO WIN THE 2012 ELECTIONS. And we would do this together. Fellow party members, we should not allow our detractors to tell us and the public that we are divided. What the world saw on the 27th of February 2010 at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium has shaken the NDC, which is why they have rushed to set up campaign committees. Over 4000 representatives of the Party, met in Kumasi to vote in a fierce contest of 32 contestants on a hot Saturday afternoon. Not a single violent incident occurred. The day was totally peaceful, with the results accepted by all in perfect unity. We say ayekoo to our party members and sympathisers across the country. It is worthy of note that while competence and ability-to-deliver guided delegates in the election of these national officers, the spirit of regional balance espoused by Article 35 of our national constitution also informed their choices. So that, today, NPP stands out as the party with the most regionally balanced elected executives ever seen in Ghana’s multiparty democracy. From here, we will go out to share our positive messages that we first proclaimed in 1947, a few miles down the road in Saltpond: Development in Freedom and Property Owning Democracy, the two philosophies that have won the ideological debate the world over. We encourage people to lawfully work hard and acquire property. We believe the state must provide the environment and encouragement for individual to use their God-given talents to do this. Further, the state must protect, not envy those who succeed. After all, every individual aspires to own property; their farms, their jewellery, their televisions, their cars, their houses, etc. Every individual should be entitled to their aspirations. The eight years of NPP administration was a manifestation of the effectiveness of our philosophies. We grew the economy fourfold and reduced poverty substantially. The following is the testimony of the NDC about what the NPP Government did in eight years: “The combination of higher output growth, declining inflation, and improved social spending under the GPRS framework contributed significantly to lower poverty levels. The national incidence of poverty declined from 39.5 percent in 1998/99 to 28.5 percent in 2005/06. At this rate, Ghana is poised to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving extreme poverty ahead of 2015.” What a difference a year makes. Interacting with drivers and food vendors on my way to the Central Region, the birth place of our Great Tradition, the call has been for the NPP to return to government. We have a responsibility to heed to that call, and we will do so. We will end NDC’s lack of vision, we will end their lack of motion and their disrespect for the law. We will restore hope. We will restore confidence. We will restore optimism. Thank you for your attention.