Dr. Kwabena Duffuor
Move by presidential hopeful of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Kwabena Duffour to officially launch his ahotɔ project to support NDC grassroots has hit a rock following some national executives decision to undermine the project.
Dr. Duffour recently launched the pilot scheme of the project aimed at providing resources to empower party activists at the constituency level.
The project, dubbed NDC ahotɔ project which is targeted at the grass roots of the NDC in all 275 constituencies to enable them to become self reliance and economically independent was to be launch at national level for full take off on Tuesday.
Information available to DGN Online indicates that the former governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG) received accolades from the party leadership asked him to extend the project to cover the rest of the country.
Based on this recommendation, the NDC flagbearer hopeful decided to escalate the project and authored a letter to invite National Executives of the NDC to the launch sheduled for today Tuesday June 7, 2022 at 11am.
However, few days to event, the party turned down the invitation with an excuse that the date coincides with the 30th anniversary celebration of the party as some believes it will help make him more popular and powerful.
Dr. Duffour was said to have wrote to the party again reminding them that the NDC anniversary celebration will come on June 10, 2022, some four clear days after the launch of his project.
Interestingly, the party responded to the NDC Presidential candidate hopeful but this time around advised him to handover ahotɔ project and it resources to the party to implement it for him.
But Dr. Duffour disagree with the leadership of the NDC about handing over his initiative to the party to implement for him since it his ‘baby’
This disagreement unfortunately caused the launch of the ahotɔ not to come on today as planned.
The Ofosu Ampofo led leadership.is afraid that the project will make Dr Duffuor popular may cause an upset in the NDC presidential primary against John Mahama.
Under the ahotɔ initiative, each constituency will receive accessories, logistics and equipment to run on a rental basis to generate funds for the party in the constituency.
At the launch of phase one of the project in the Ashaiman constituency, Dr Duffuor presented 100 plastic chairs, four sets of canopies and a set of public address systems to the constituency executives, which will be rented out for social events to raise funds to support party activities at the various branches.
At the event, Dr Duffuor, who is a former Minister of Finance, explained that the project was targeted at creating a sustainable revenue base for the party in all 275 constituencies in the country.
He explained that the project was as a result of an outcome of his stakeholder engagements with the rank and file of the NDC and his quest to bring a new approach to politics.
Dr. Duffour believes that without a well-resourced base, the party could not properly re-organise its machinery and effectively restrategise.
Dr Duffuor advised the constituency executives to put in place measures to effectively utilise the resources given them as it would contribute to the generation of resources to tackle financial challenges at the constituency level and support welfare needs of the party members.
That, he said, would boost the NDC’s quest to recapture power in 2024.
The Chairman of the NDC Business Development Committee, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, commended Dr Duffuor for the initiative, stressing that it would help change the perception that the party was anti-business.
He said the ahotɔ project fitted into the objective of the Business Development Committee of the NDC.
“The committee’s objective is very similar to what Dr Duffuor is doing, which is what we can do in the NDC to change the image of NDC from what some people think is not a business-friendly party to one that is more business-friendly,” he said.
He encouraged other leading members of the NDC with similar ideas to get on board to make the grass roots resourceful.
The Ashaiman Constituency Chairman of the NDC, Anthony Afenyo, expressed appreciation to Dr Duffuor for embracing the idea when the 34 constituency chairpersons, led by him (Mr Afenyo), called on him and put forward the proposal.
He said the strength of the party lay with the branch and constituency executives who over the years had worked with little resources but were self-motivated.
He said given the needed logistics, the constituency executive in the region were resolved to rally round the NDC to secure more seats in the 2024 general election.
By Vincent Kubi