Kwabena Adjei joins NDC Chairmanship race

Accra, Nov. 1, GNA - Dr Kwabena Adjei, former National Democratic Party (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Biakoye in the Volta Region, on Tuesday promised to restore peace between the feuding factions of the party in three months if given the mandate to become the chairman of the Party at its forthcoming national congress.

"As an accomplished psychologist and a problem solver for that matter, I think I have what it takes to bring the so-called factions in the Party together in a maximum of three months if I am given the nod to chair the Party, come December 16, 2005," he said. Dr Adjei made the promise when he launched his campaign in Accra for the chairmanship of the NDC.

He said he believed that the factionalism problem facing the NDC was a perceived one, which would take teamwork by a new NDC National Executive to rectify and put the right perception about the Party in the public domain.

Dr Adjei observed that currently the NDC was faced with a situation where the chairman was perceived as wielding power over a section rather than the whole of the Party, saying that this was not good for its political future.

"My vision as a chairman of the entire NDC collective rather than as chairman of a section of the NDC is to initiate, embrace and sustain teamwork that is capable of mobilizing the human and non-human resources within the Party to win the 2008 Elections," he said.

He noted that his decision to stand for the chairmanship position was a carefully considered one.

"I have thoroughly assessed myself and I know I have the right blend of political expertise, moral fibre, temperamental disposition, social skills, experience and needed physical indefatigability to lead the new National Executive to reinvent the Party for victory in Election 2008."

Dr Adjei said the NDC under his chairmanship would consistently seek unity and stability within the rank and file, adding that he would also liaise with the chairmen of other political parties to ensure that followers of their respective parties did not use the media to inflame political passions and create disharmony that retarded national development.

Dr Adjei promised that come Elections 2008, he and his National Executive, if voted into power as chairman, would restore the smiles on the faces of NDC members by snatching power from the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

He warned that it would be na=EFve on the part of the opposing political parties and internal forces within the NDC to think that the Party was dead, saying that the truth was that no external political force in Ghana today really posed threats to the very existence and durability of the NDC, as did the forces within.

Dr Adjei expressed disgust for the use of money by politicians to influence voters to vote blindly, often against their conscience. "To me these vote-catching strategies portray nothing but democracy in its most degenerated form and betray the weakness on the part of candidates who adopted them."

Dr Adjei said he was not coming into the chairmanship position with silver, gold or cedis. He promised to change the notion that politics was a dirty game and that political positions were on auction. "The era of the highest-bidder type of jungle democracy belongs to the past."

He pledged that when voted into the chairmanship position, he would not support the bid of one prospective flag-bearer of the Party against others, saying that he was in to ensure fair play in the Party's elective system.

Asked how he intended to mobilise funds to run the Party when voted chairman, he said as a poor man leading the poor, he was in the best position to make the masses feel they were important to the Party and was sure of getting their support financially to run it. Among those present at the launch were Mr Amadu Seidu, (NDC-MP for Yapei); Nii Amasah Namoale, (NDC-Dadekotopon); Mr Gershon Gbedeame, (NDC-Nkwanta North); Mr Dawoud Anum Yemoh (NDC-Domiabra/Obom) and Mr Anthony Awudi (NDC-Binduri).

Dr Kwabena Adjei started his political carrier in 1978 and has served as MP for Biakoye for three consecutive terms and as a Cabinet Minister in the NDC government.