Sylvester Mensah
Aspiring presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress Sylvester Mensah says the party’s decision to “sell history” as against the hope messages by other parties, contributed to the loss of the NDC in the 2016 election.
In his diagnosis of what possibly went wrong in the NDC 2016 campaign, he said the party dwelled more on its infrastructure development projects believing that was their trump card to victory.
“In hindsight, we were selling history while others were selling hope,” he told Johnny Hughes on New Day magazine show on TV3 Thursday, when asked what possibly went wrong for the NDC to lose the election.
“We were dwelling a lot more on our infrastructure development which indeed were monumental; unmatched since independence, and we thought that was going to sell and that will give the people hope,” he contended.
Mr. Mensah’s name came up as one of those to contest for the flagbearership position of the NDC after the party’s loss in the 2016 elections.
He on August 3 officially announced his intention contest in the race, noting he took the decision upon broader consultation with the leadership of the party and became convinced of the move.
Though the former National Health Insurance Authority boss stated campaigns are a function of a party’s leadership, whose vision and that of the party form the campaign messages, it will not be right to blame the leadership.
He said to “put it bluntly, all that belongs to history, [and that] we lost an election and every single member of the party takes part of the blame”.
Meanwhile he said he is encouraged daily by the “overwhelming endorsement” that he receives.
He however declined to name those who have so far endorsed him saying, “I’ve tried not to put in the public domain the individuals who have endorsed my candidature for very good reasons”.
His campaign, he said has so far taken him to eight regions and will be “going through a second leg” of visits that will be nationwide.
-3news