Love for money destroying NDC – Rawlings

Former President, Jerry John Rawlings, has bemoaned the money making venture in politics which he thinks has contributed to the disunity in the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

“As we hold this dialogue to plot an agenda for a positive performance in 2020, we have to take due note that the re-organisation is a process that involves embracing our party’s core ideals and ensuring that we are not swayed by the crass monetisation of Ghanaian politics which used to be alien to our party and which unfortunately has contributed rather notoriously to the surfeit of negativity and divisiveness plaguing our party,” he noted at a conference with former NDC appointees at the Mensvic Hotel in Accra on Saturday 12 May 2018.

The conference was organised by former Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) who served under the past government with the aim of devising strategies to win back power for the NDC in 2020.

Mr Rawlings lauded the efforts of the organisers and indicated in his speech that the NDC succeeded against many odds to become a leading political force in the country.

“Our presence in the national political arena has contributed more than significantly to the success of the Fourth Republic and engendered the kind of public discourse and maturity of the electorate that has benefited the country in no small measure,” he noted.

He said the NDC’s contribution to the socio-political stability of Ghana was due to their desire to embrace participatory governance, allowing the grassroots to have a significant say in the branches, wards, constituency, regional and national affairs.

“Today many of those who hold high office in the party are personalities who first identified their leadership qualities from wards and branches. The ideals that guided and projected them to leading party figures were their unparalleled conscience, sense of conviction and unbridled desire to sacrifice for God and country,” he added.

For him, the defeat at the 2016 elections was a painful loss and highlighted that the “NDC was not a unified party in 2016”.

He observed that: “The NDC was not in touch with the grassroots in 2016. The NDC was not a bastion of stability in 2016 and the NDC sadly did not inspire confidence in the majority of Ghanaians in 2016. The common denominator in these aforementioned flaws, were the lack of conscience and conviction in our dealings with the electorate”.

He continued: “We are doing a lot to be heard in the public arena. The NDC is doing its best to put the government on its toes but are we doing our homework well? Are we doing enough to inspire confidence amongst our own sympathisers? Are we doing enough to convince the vast floating voter constituency?”

He further cautioned against selfishness as the party works to regain power in 2020.

“My message to all gathered here today is let us wean ourselves of selfish tendencies and desire to seek political power for economic benefit. That cancer has eaten deeply into our party.”