Delegates of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) have started serious discussions over the need for an early congress to enable them give an opinion about the defeat the party suffered in the December 7 general elections.
They see the proposed early congress as the best option to reorganize themselves and stage a comeback as a party to wrestle power from the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
They also consider the proposed early congress as the best opportunity to kick out their national executives for letting them down in the 2016 general elections.
To many of the delegates, the proposed early congress, once approved, will enable them elect new leaders who will be tasked with the responsibility of winning back power from the elephant family.
At the just ended general elections, the NDC suffered a humiliating defeat from the hands of their biggest political rival, the NPP.
In the Presidential poll, incumbent President John Dramani, polled 4,713,277, representing 44.43% to surrender power to the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who polled 5,716,026, representing 53.85% of the total valid votes cast.
In the parliamentary poll, the opposition NPP put up a spirited fight to win majority seats in the legislature. The Busia-Danquah-Dombo tradition which was in the minority with 123 seats will now enter into the Seventh Parliament with 171 majority seats.
The NDC which currently has majority seats in Parliament with 147 seats will also enter into the Seventh Parliament with a minority 104 seats.
Ever since the Electoral Commissioner, Charlotte Osei pronounced Nana Akufo-Addo, the President-elect of the Republic of Ghana, some party stalwarts have taken to the airwaves to launch verbal attacks on people they suspect were behind the party’s defeat.
But in the opinion of the delegates, the blame game do not matter at this point. What matters most, they noted, is how to put themselves up for an early congress, which they believe will afford them the opportunity to do self-introspection about their performance in the general elections.
Nii Kpakpo Samoah, senior member of the akatamansonians who spoke to Fiifi Banson on Kasapa 102.5 FM, Thursday, revealed that the delegates are in dire need of new crop of leaders who can win back power from the NPP.
“We have sat down and said we need an early congress to give the NDC members an opportunity to share their views on the defeat the party suffered in the just ended elections. The leaders who took the party into the election – if you did the right thing, you will hear from the electorate of the NDC that you did well and so we want to give you the mandate to rebrand and rebuild the party. So we are calling for basically an early congress to allow for fresh faces to lead the party from the national to the last levels of the party,” he noted.
In the view of Mr. Samoah, a new crop of leaders going forward will mean well for the party.
He warned that maintaining the current crop of leaders, will spell doom for the party in the next general elections.
“In the run up to the elections, one noble chief in the Volta Region warned that the NDC should not see the Volta Region as a house wife. But some of our national executives insulted him. This affected us electorally. Do you expect that those national executives who insulted this noble chief can go and stand before him and ask for his help to reorganise the party? Can those who also insulted the Founder go before him and beg him to help reorganise the party? It makes no sense.”
“This is a very simple thing. We tout ourselves as social democrats who believe in the grassroots support – so why don’t you want the grassroots to have a say in the direction the party should go? But if they [current executives] don’t go and still want to hold on to their positions till their tenure expires, then what they are telling us is that we should release those information that led to our defeat to the grassroots for them to take a decision over it.”
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