Stephen Asamoah Boateng, SIGA Director-General
The Director-General of the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), Stephen Asamoah Boateng, has advised members of the Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) of the governing New Patriotic Party to be loyal to the party, even in tough times.
He explained that loyalty in a party makes the party stronger, as its energy is directed at building members capacities to engage its opponents.
Speaking on the theme “Youth in Development through New Media & Digitization”, at a handing over ceremony and seminar organised by the Valley View University branch of TESCON at Oyibi, in Accra, over the weekend, Mr Asamoah Boateng underscored the need for unity within the party at all levels, saying unity prevents internal wrangling.
He said in instances where members disagree with one another on issues, the best way to resolve it is to argue it out for the superior argument to win.
“Going forward, you as the next generation must sacrifice because that is what the older people did. I prefer to use the word loyalty more than sacrifice. You must be loyal to the party. Unfortunately, in the NPP, sometimes we fight our own,” he said.
Preach good
The SIGA boss further charged the TESCON members to be marketers and sales persons who propagate the party’s good policies and programmes.
“Do not sit on the side lines and allow opponents dictate their agenda when we have a great party doing well in the government,” Mr Asamoah Boateng said.
“Propagating the good works of the NPP will help keep the party in power in order to create more opportunities for its members and the Ghanaian people. If care is not taken and the NPP loses power to the NDC in 2024, they (NDC) will take the country back into hardship after President Akufo-Addo and his government have struggled to fix the mess they left behind,” he said.
Mr Asamoah Boateng noted that politics is a human-centred profession which requires that politicians work with people, saying it is, therefore, important that communication is taken seriously.
“You must understand the topic, you must understand the basics, you must understand how you build the principles of that basics, and you must understand how you build the conclusion based on the theory you have built,” he told the teeming youth.
The Director-General believes that by so doing, the students will build their own credibility and standing in the party which will also build their capacity in order for them to be recognised by the party and government to handle any future appointments and positions that present themselves.
“Try as much as possible to meet often and interact among yourselves and encourage each other. Also, try to use your handheld mobile gadgets to reach out to people on social media and tell them about the good works of the NPP,” he advised.
Fund raising
In another development, Mr Asamoah Boateng has encouraged parents and Ghanaians to take education seriously. Speaking at a fund raising dinner organized by the paramount chief of Tepa, Nana Adusei Atwenewa Ampem, at Tepa in the Ashanti Region on Saturday, he noted that it is education that had taken him to where he is.
He said he was able to rise through the ranks as a Member of Parliament for Mfantseman West, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development and Environment, Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, Minister of information and National Orientation as well as an Executive Chairman of SIGA because of education.
He noted that but for education, he would have been selling rats at Konongo, in the Ashanti Region, or would have been an uneducated fisherman at Kormantse, in the Central Region.
He therefore charged parents to take advantage of President Akufo-Addo’s Free SHS policy to educate their children.
The fund-raising dinner was graced by the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Adutwum; Minister of Works and Housing, Francis Asenso Boakye, as well as other paramount chiefs and celebrities.
