In addition to what Chairman Dr. Obed Asamoah described as “exploratory” talks to form an alliance with the CPP, the NDC is seriously considering fielding an Ashanti candidate as part of strategies to win the 2004 election.
The strategy is to secure between 30 and 40 percent of Ashanti votes, which are seen as constituting the decisive support base of the NPP, in order to brighten the party’s chances of beating President Kufour. Sources in the NDC have hinted “The Heritage” newspaper that so far no names have emerged but The Heritage sources say that if political savvy and prominence are anything to go by, the Mr P.V. Obeng, former PNDC Government Adviser is a front runner.
While Dr. Asamoah said he was not aware of the Ashanti candidate option, he was quick to add that the “NDC is big and broad so that might be the thinking of some people.” Last week Dr. Asamoah admitted that the NDC had begun talking to the CPP for an electoral alliance, which should be seen as the result of the party’s assessment of the political realities and the need to respond to them adequately.
Sources in the NDC hinted that the party is using the vice presidential slot as a bait. Talks of an alliance have emerged as the party gears itself for a congress in December to elect the presidential candidate for which the NDC Chairman is speculated to be interested. According to Dr. Asamoah, there was nothing positive yet at all about the NDC-CPP talks but sources within the CPP, with only one seat in Parliament, tell The Heritage that “most people are angry and asking for how long the party would continue to remain in the shadows of other parties.”
Analyzing the NDC’s intentions, leading members posited that both the NDC ad the NPP perceive the CPP as weak and only fit to be used to support them either to remain or get into power. “The time has come for the CPP to assert its identity and contest elections on its own,” one leading member said. Historically, there exist two tendencies within the CPP that react differently whenever the party moved either towards the NDC or the NPP.
What is engaging the attention of most members is the fact that the NDC, whose precursor, the PNDC overthrew the CPP’s PNP of Dr. Hilla Limann, should all of a sudden begin to talk to them after they have lost power. Giving credence to suspicions that CPP executive might end up selling out to the NDC are the personalities involved in the so-called exploratory talks, especially the Chairman, Dr. Abubakar Alhassan.
He is an official in the Development Office at the University of Ghana, Legon, and has a history of coziness to the NDC that has undermined and damaged the CPP. For some years the PNDC Secretary for Works and Housing, the Chairman is a close friend of former Security Adviser, Capt. Kojo Tsikata.
When the NCP, one of the Nkrumaist parties, abrogated its accord with the NDC, the Attorney General went to court to challenge the unconstitutionality of the action.
However, the court questioned his locus standi in the case, whereupon Dr. Alhassan quickly joined the suit, as a member of the NCP, to legitimize the A-G’s action. Earlier, he and a few others, constituting the rump NCP, had called a news conference to announce that they were still in accord with the NDC.
During the CPP’s congress in 1999 to elect the chairman, it was said that Capt. Tsikata influenced Mr Mike Eghan and his group to back Dr Abubakar to beat Dr Edmund Delle, with the promise of financial support for the party’s campaign.
In the light of the CPP’s anaemic position, Dr. Asamoah was asked whether he did not regard the party as a spent force. “You can win an election with only one vote. So even if the CPP is not as big as the NDC, they are still useful allies”, he added.
