The National Democratic Congress, (NDC), held their 10th National Delegates Congress some months ago. At the Congress, for the first time in the history of the party, the serving General Secretary of the Party, Johnson Asiedu Nketia aka General Mosquito unseated the incumbent National Chairman of the NDC, Dr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo.
This was against the background of an entreatment from the Former President and the presumptive Flag-bearer of the NDC for the 2024 general national elections to Johnson Asiedu Nketia not to contest Chairman Samuel Ofosu Ampofo while he was the serving General Secretary of the party which Ampofo chairs. The contest of the serving General Secretary of the party was also in disagreement to the wise counsel of the Chairman of the NDC Council of Elders and other notable members of the party. Their views were that it was unethical and also for the the fear that, such a contest was likely to trigger negative internal consequences for the party’s forward match to their goals of snatching power from the incompetent NPP government which has run aground the country’s economy.
The current National Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia disregarded all these, stuck to his guns, went ahead to contest. The contest witnessed unprincipled campaign methods by the campaign team of Asiedu Nketia which dwelt on naked undermining, and outright slander and smear of the incumbent National Chairman which was, to say the least, very unfortunate. In fact, on the congress floor and the venue, there was in the full glare, scenes of manipulative schemes which were meant to help secure a favourable result to the current Chairman in the contest at all costs. The shenanigan tactics and electoral malpractices witnessed at the congress, were perfectly coordinated and orchestrated to give undue advantage to some candidates against the others.
The elections were also characterised by, vote buying, unfair treatment and corrupt practices all in the grand design to make some aspirants unpopular and subsequently lose the elections.
In particular, the treatment given to the sitting Chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, whose only crime was his legitimate right to seek another term of office as enshrined in the constitution of the NDC was very outstanding and appalling. Considering Ampofo’s decades of dedicated service, loyalty and contributions to the party, it was unexpected to observe such open hostilities against him. To give their destructive campaign strategy some element of credibility, A1 (artificial intelligence) was employed to falsely portray Samuel Ofosu Ampofo as a dishonest person who was taking undisclosed huge sums of money from the NPP allegedly through Alhaji Baba Kamara an NDC stalwart. The goal was to dim the chances of the re-election of Samuel Ofosu Ampofo as the NDC Chairman. This false allegation was extensively used to the disadvantage of Samuel Ofosu Ampofo and which was consumed by the unsuspecting and ignorant delegates to the congress.
Disgustingly, there was this issue which was used as a weapon to attack Ampofo’s root in the NDC. And it was his tribal background. Because of his Akyem origin, it was so easy to tag him as an NPP mole in the NDC. This was widely used to assassinate his character and to dent his image and hard won reputation as an astute NDC firebrand. It was so easy to kill his ambition to win the contest to become the party’s Chairman because Asiedu Nketiah’s campaign team told delegates that he was hobnobbing with the NPP leadership.
An allegation that was untruth and palpably false. If, it was not pure and evil hatred, how can anyone doubt Ampofo’s NDC loyalty and to paint him in NPP colours? Is it because he is Akyem so it was easy to tag him an NPP mole, as if all Akyems were in the NPP? Was that the best way to get him out as the NDC Chairman even after his immense sacrifices to the growth of the NDC? If the schemers were minded, they would not have played the dangerous tribal card against the then incumbent NDC Chairman in the last internal contest for the position of Chairman. A good number of Akyems have faithfully served the NDC without any issues raised with their origin even though it is acknowledged that they are from opposition party’s stronghold. Typical of such Akyem persons are the diehard, Ambassador Victor Henry Smith and Professor Danso to mention but a few.
The Founder Flt. JJ Rawlings, may his soul rest in perfect peace, and his faithful colleagues who put up the party for the current leaders to inherit never had such devious tribal mindsets when they decided to form the NDC. And it would be a great disservice to their political vision for the current leaders of the NDC to employ a dirty tribal game against others to climb the ladder.
Prior to the 10th national delegates congress of the NDC at the Ohene Djan sports stadium in Accra, other aspirants to the Youth and Women Conferences in Cape Coast also suffered similar accusations. What is baffling is that, suddenly high ranking individuals occupying sensitive positions in the NDC have become surrogates of the opposition NPP!
I don’t follow Ofosu Ampofo around to wherever he goes. But I can vouch for his unblemished NDC credentials.
Here is someone who had over the years, gone through numerous vetting in the NDC to become District Chief Executive of Fanteakwa, Member of Parliament for the Fanteakwa Constituency, Deputy Regional Minister of the Eastern Region and also, Eastern Regional Minister under Pro J.E. Atta Mills. He later became the Local Government and Rural Development Minister. He was also Director of Elections and National Vice Chairman of the NDC, and subsequently, NDC National Chairman. So the question is, at what time did he metamorphose into an NPP mole in the NDC? After all, what is it that he can get in the NDC which could be denied him if he had decided to go with the NPP he being an Akyem? We must be real and serious about issues in the NDC if we want the party to remain relevant as a political force in the country especially when the charismatic Founder, Flight Lt JJ Rawlings is no longer alive! It would only be fair for Ampofo to petition the relevant quarters in the NDC to address his grievances if he has not done so because of the deliberate, malicious, unjustified and sustained effort to damage his reputation and credibility in the political arena just to make him unpopular in order to lose his bid for re-election as the NDC Chairman. And if his petition does not receive the urgent response that is required, he is advised to take the petition to the court of public opinion.
The NDC, as a party has its strength in its national appeal. It is a party that is proud of its national character which attracts decent persons with political ambitions to pit camp in the NDC irrespective of the tribal, ethnic and religious backgrounds. The founding fathers of the NDC were clear in their minds about why the party was named the National Democratic Congress instead of National Democratic Party. It was because the adherents of the grouping were from diverse backgrounds who were being brought into a Congress. Any attempt at looking at the ethnic, tribal or religious backgrounds of a prospective candidate vying for a position in the NDC would be suicidal, counterproductive and is certainly going against the grain of the party’s interests. What must be in the minds of those who care about the NDC growing from strength to strength, is to create the atmosphere and platform for persons with political ambitions from the strongholds of the NPP to participate fairly in these contests to pursue their ambitions
Even though the NDC has national character, there is no doubt that, since 2000, it has been pretty hard for it to make substantial progress in the Eastern and Ashanti Regions in terms of vote gains. This is particular in the mainstream Twi-speaking Akan areas, namely, Kwahu, Akyim areas in the Eastern Region and largely in the Ashanti Region. These are the strongholds for the NDC’s major competitors, the NPP.
If someone who comes from any of these areas is tribalistic and wanted to do politics, he would naturally cut their political teeth on the NPP platform because it will be easier for them to make it up the ladder than joining the NDC So if, In-spite of the allure, an Akyem, Ashanti Akwapim or Kwahu decides to be in the NDC and goes through all kinds of ostracizing schemes amongst their own kith and kin because of the NDC, the least such persons should receive is to denigrate them and tag them with character assassination labels and unjustified suspicions.
Those who decided and consciously devised and contrived to deploy the negative tribal game to play out Samuel Ofosu Ampofo from leadership roles in the NDC because of his origin, have done a great disservice to the NDC and this will haunt the party in no time unless the NDC Council of Elders sat down the erring party to do the needful to ensure that the offended party who may be harbouring some genuine grievances is appeased.
The Council of Elders must also take a serious view of the attacks on Ofosu Ampofo’s religious background by the Asiedu Nketiah’s camp. To say that he was an Elder of the Pentecost Church therefore he was not fit to hold the Chairman position of the party again, to say the least, was anti-Christian and divisive which may have negative consequences for the party in the 2024 general elections. In a country where Christians constitute about 85% of the population and the Pentecost Church with about 3.5 million members, it was an ill- conceived political strategy which was used against Ampofo. Because of its boomerang effects.
The experience Samuel Ofosu Ampofo had to go through in the contest for re-election to the position of Chairman of the NDC and the manner he lost his position to his General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, will in the future not encourage or embolden any person with roots in the Akyim areas of the Eastern Region to venture into any contest for a notable position in the NDC. Because it becomes easy to tag them.
It will be injurious to the consolidated effort by the rank and file of the NDC to build a better, resilient and strong party if the ills that characterised the 10th National Delegates Congress are concealed.
Exposing it will sound an alarm of the dangers ahead especially when the NDC will be holding the trailblazing presidential and parliamentary primaries on the 13th of May.
Media Coverage
It all began with the media coverage led by the WOEZOR TV Station owned by Stan Dogbe. WOEZOR TV, a television station was given the sole right of coverage of the NDC Congress and share the feed with other television stations.
But the Congress was covered in a way and manner to deliberately market Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia an aspiring National Chairman of the NDC. Mr Asiedu Nketia’s image and posters with a hash tag, number 2, featured prominently on the giant screen mounted at the venue of the Congress to ensure that he gets more coverage and visibility than the other aspiring National Chairmen to soar his popularity among the delegates.
This development disadvantaged the other aspiring Chairmen. Microphone sounds were tactically managed in a way to also favour Mr Asiedu Nketia in making him seem as to be a better and bolder aspirant as he was seeking to portray on his campaign rounds prior to the day of the congress.
Also, while Mr Asiedu Nketia was heard clearly and loudly in his submission, operators intermittently tampered with the sound of the microphone when Chairman Ofosu Ampofo was giving his submission. The operators ensured that he was not heard in his remarks to debunk the assertions by supporters of Asiedu Nketia that he lacks boldness and courage. Drones belonging to WOEZOR TV flew above voters who were casting their ballots in the booths to monitor voting directions. This compromised the secrecy and sanctity of the ballot.
During voting, the disc jockey attached to the WOEZOR TV, played John Mahama’s 2020 campaign song (number 2 eei number 2 eei) any time Mr Asiedu Nketia’s image was displayed on the giant screen. This was aimed to achieve two significant objectives. 1.to indicate to all the delegates and other party members that Asiedu Nketia was the choice of H.E John Dramani Mahama and 2.to remind the delegates of the position of Asiedu Nketia on the ballot paper, hence the song, number two.
All these are being recapped in order to serve as a restraint to its repetition in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary primaries of the NDC since such actions can have dire consequences to the desire of the NDC to win power, come December 7th, 2024. It is said that a divided house cannot stand. The NDC needs every single vote of the members to ensure that a resounding victory is chalked. Our razor-edge margins in the Presidential elections since 2008 national elections should be a pointer for the need to come together and vote massively in the general elections.
ELECTORAL COMMISSION
The Electoral Commission (EC) which was led by Dr Serebour Quaicoo was not above reproach.
Being the Director of Electoral Services, one had expected him to have exhibited professional conduct. But he woefully lacked it on that day. Whatever deals he might have entered into with some parties interested in the outcome of the congress on that day, should alert the NDC to the kind of people who will be in charge of the 2024 national general elections.
The EC failed to cluster the regions according to the proximity of their sitting arrangements and mount its polling booths directly opposite to them to allow for easy access and avert any delays. The EC, instead, paraded its polling booths and ballot boxes in front of Mr Asiedu Nketia’s supporters. These supporters waved Mr Asiedu Nketia’s posters and pictures and shouted number two, number two persistently to project him above the other aspirants. They chanted slogans in favour of Asiedu Nketia to coerce the delegates to vote for Asiedu Nketia. What was so bizarre was that, polling agents were made to sit a distance far away from the sorting and counting tables thus, preventing them from protecting ballots of their candidates. This confirmed the pre-congress suspicions that there would be underhand dealings with the EC to skew the results of the elections to a particular direction.
In the contest for the General Secretary of the NDC, a lot of dirt was thrown at the outgoing Director of Elections, Honourable Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah. And the same negative tactics that were used against Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, were employed against Honourable Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah in his bid for the NDC General Secretary slot. Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, who was clearly, the people’s choice was strangely accused of being responsible for the NDC loss in the 2020 general election. And this worked against him
In order for their preferred candidate to have his way over Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, the NDC power-brokers told delegates at the congress venue that the outgoing NDC Director of Elections, Afriyie-Ankrah failed to collate the NDC results at the polling stations. But anyone in the NDC system of authority knows that, that responsibility was given to the NDC IT department and that Elvis Afriyie Ankrah had no hands in that.
Even money budgeted for the training of party agents for a period of 16 months was released on the 12th of November 2020, only three weeks to the elections. Nonetheless, these agents were able to secure 137 seats in the Parliament for the NDC despite the short period of training. Instead of appreciating the immense sacrifices of the NDC Elections Directorate and party agents for the remarkable performance which led to the party capturing 137 parliamentary seats in the 2020 general elections, the party agents have been described as illiterates and members of the Elections Directorate accused of sabotaging the victory of the NDC in that elections. In view of that everything was done to ensure that the former NDC Director of Elections lost the contest with the infusion of huge sums of money in his foremost competitor’s campaign
As if by coincidence, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah was also on the number 1 position of the ballot paper for the NDC General Secretary slot. So it perfectly worked out for his saboteurs to direct the delegates through the giant screen and microphones to vote for his closest competitor, who was the number 2 on the ballot sheet.
In the annals of the country’s political history, this is the first time that Ghana has a hung-parliament and the Speaker elected from the NDC Minority Group in Parliament.
And this is not an act of providence. It’s due to innovative action and a well-thought out policy by the NDC Directorate of Elections led by Honourable Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah.
Yes, it is true that Ghanaians are crying and calling for a change of government due to the bad governance of Akufo Addo and Mahamudu Bawumiah. Yet, the NDC will not have it easy! They should not have the false illusions that, the bad economic situation per se can guarantee the party victory in the 7th December 2024 national elections.
It is becoming a norm in the NDC to shed of people of dissenting minds and this is not in the interest of the party since that would certainly lead to a haemorrhage of the party’s pool of talents
A political party is not like a herd of sheep which is led by a Shepherd
That the NDC 10th National Delegates Congress was characterised by vote-buying cannot be denied. The monetization introduced in the NDC internal elections is getting out of hand. And sooner than later, the party will be biting its fingers.
As a party that adheres to the tenets of social democracy, the introduction of money into the internal elections of the NDC, is a total betrayal of the social democratic principles and a clear subversion of our electoral laws. The NDC is heading to a situation where positions of prospective offices will be held by the highest bidders. Already, some leaders of the party who have made a fortune out of the NDC are positioning their offspring to take up from where they have left.
The NDC Council of Elders is therefore called to investigate these allegations and punish the culprits to serve as deterrent to those of similar ambitions in subsequent intra-party elections in the future.