The National Treasurer of the largest opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Charles Dwamena, has made a heartfelt appeal to party members to recommit to paying their dues.
Presenting the party’s financial report at Saturday’s National Extraordinary Conference, Dr. Dwamena laid bare the realities of party financing, saluted key benefactors, and painted a bold vision of a future where “paying dues comes with real, tangible benefits.”
“As part of my working visit to sensitise members on the dues payment, the Treasury interacted with 6,958 Party members. Out of this number, 1,728 were constituency officers, 2,380 electoral area coordinators, 934 polling station executives and 1,916 non-executive members. When engaged, more than 6,800 of these clearly indicated that they are no more interested in paying their dues, citing two main reasons – the cumbersome process of going to the office to physically pay and the fact that they get no direct benefit after paying dues.”
According to him, the Finance Committee has already approved a group accident insurance policy that will cover accidental death, permanent and temporary disability, and medical expenses, at no extra cost to members beyond their regular dues.
“When informed of the new digital payment system and a proposal to have an accident insurance policy attached directly to dues payment, 6829 out of the 6958 engaged changed their minds and indicated their commitment to pay their dues so as to benefit from the policy. This represents 98.14% of the Party members engaged who are ready to pay their dues should the proposed insurance policy cover come into effect.”
“The group accident insurance policy proposal is aimed at ensuring that any member who is in good standing gets substantial financial support in times of trouble occasioned by an accident. The benefits cover accidental death – where the next of kin of the deceased member would be paid a lump sum; permanent disability occasioned by an accident where the affected member in good standing shall be given a lump sum payment; temporal disablement where the affected member in good standing shall be given a weekly allowance for every week the member is unable to go to work; and an amount of money to cover the medical expenses occasioned by an accident.”
“For all these benefits, the member does not need to make any additional payment other than the monthly membership dues. The Finance Committee has already approved the group accident insurance policy proposal and has recommended it to the Party for adoption. It is the considered opinion of the Finance Committee that the group accident insurance proposal will serve as a potent revenue catalyst that will motivate the majority, if not all our members to pay their dues.”
He explained that this initiative is part of five key pillars the Finance Committee is focused on: enhancing transparency and accountability, recognising donors, training party executives on financial protocols, simplifying dues payments, and diversifying revenue streams.
He also noted the giant strides the party has made in making dues payment more convenient.
“The payment is now through a short code *920*270#. This payment application was developed in-house by our own IT Directorate and has made it very convenient for members to pay their dues or make donations to the Party anytime. Prior to the introduction of this system, members had to go all the way to their constituencies and regions to have their dues paid. This discouraged a number of party members,” he noted.
By: Ekow Annan/newsalertgh.com
