John Mahama
An amalgamated NDC group, calling itself the Democratic Platform Initiative (DPI), has opened up on why the main opposition party lost the 2020 general election, largely attributing it to “flawed internal elections that the NDC had ahead of 2020.”
The group, which is made up of Cadres And NDC Activists (CANA), United Cadres Front (UCF), Progress Intellectuals (PI) and Organising for Ghana (OG), said the NDC did not select the right candidate and the process was sold to the highest bidder.
According to the group, the NDC has weak party structures at the branch level and the party is currently suffering from “a deficit of democratic engagement and mobilisation” which has left most of its members “confused and uncertain about the future of the party” to win a national election.
In a report dubbed “NDC Progressive Collaboration,” prepared by the various groups calling itself the DPI and sent to the NDC National Chairman, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, and copied to the various units in the party, they said the NDC had been hijacked by the highest bidder and that will continue to affect the fortunes of the party if the trend is not reversed.
They said there is not “credible democratic leadership elections,” except resorting to what they called “open auction.”
The report, sighted by DAILY GUIDE, accused some of the leaders of having a reputation for corruption and incompetence and said these were among a number of factors that worked against the NDC in the last elections.
The DPI, which recently organised a forum in Tema that was attended by some stalwarts of the party, stated that prior to the 2020 general election, the NDC had weak structures at the branch level but the leadership pretended everything was alright.
It said the party at the moment is embroiled in crisis, struggling for credibility, while the leaders appear to be bereft of any intellectual ideas to recapture power, insisting that the “NDC is Ghana’s principal social democratic political party and has long been the party that represents the hopes and aspirations of Ghana’s working people.”
The report added that “sadly, the NDC, for many years, has been in crisis,” and continued that analysis of presidential election results pointed to a decline over the years.
The amalgamated group said the NDC could not prosecute any strategic campaigns for the 2020 general election, except indulging in what it called self-defeating campaigns.
Tema Forum
On April 17, 2021, the group convened its first forum at the Rotary Club House at Community 5 in Tema, during which party stalwarts such as Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor, Dan Abodakpi, Augustus Goosie Tanoh, Ambassador Emmanuel Osei, and Ebi Bright took turns to slam any attempt to rush the party into picking a flag bearer for 2024 when the root cause of the party’s successive defeats and the nature of a candidate picked, has not been discussed dispassionately.
They described the NDC as a ‘lame horse’ that must be healed before any attempt to select the jockey to ride that horse.
Immediately the Supreme Court dismissed Mr. Mahama’s challenge of the 2020 Presidential Election, some of the leaders started pushing that former President Mahama who has lost two consecutive presidential elections to his opponent Nana Akufo-Addo, one as incumbent (2016) and in opposition (2020), should contest again in 2024.
The party’s Communication Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, even confirmed the intentions of the leaders when he said at the University of Cape Coast recently that Mr. Mahama would be the NDC presidential candidate for the 2024 general election at all cost.
“By hook or crook John Dramani Mahama will come and lead the NDC to victory in 2024,” he told the NDC’s Tertiary Education Network (TEIN) members at a programme at UCC.
Imminent Push
However, the attempt to get Mr. Mahama as the sole candidate ahead of the primary for 2024 could rekindle the confusion witnessed in 2019 ahead of the 2020 general election, which Mr. Mahama sailed through with ease.
Dr. Kunbuor said at the forum that NDC should not rush into selecting a new flag bearer without looking at the wobbly legs on which the whole party structure is currently standing.
He said the NDC’s challenges go beyond succession to internal wrangling and weak cohesion.
“Look for succession machinery and institution – one that will endure and be sustainable over the times. As comrade Dan Abodakpi has said, you can put any rider on that horse and the horse will win,” he fired, adding, “When you start by closing any forms of conversation and let it look like the real problem for NDC today is a conversation about succession and flagbearership, you are committing a serious political blunder because by the time you get that successor or that individual in place; he is going to be riding a weak and tired and sick horse.”
FROM Vincent Kubi, Tema