NDC Is In Danger!

Whichever way one looks at it, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is saddled with a huge struggle of fostering internal cohesion ahead of the 2012 general elections. Dr Kwabena Adjei, NDC Chairman’s 10th January, 2012 confidential letter to President John Evans Atta Mills, copied to former president Jerry John Rawlings, requesting him to convene an urgent meeting between some 23 personalities of the party, which was its way into the media on Tuesday, confirms the fear of many an NDC follower.

The NDC Chairman’s letter to President Mills reads as follows:

VERY URGENT COMMUNICATION

10th January, 2012

Your Excellency, Mr. President,

Developments within our Party, the National Democratic Congress, have become a source of grave concern to me and, I believe to all Ghanaians who love and cherish the Party that you lead.

I therefore demand, with all respect, that you summon a meeting, within a week, in which the following, among others, will attend to discuss and resolve very urgent disintegrative factional dynamics and processes within the NDC before it is too late for the 2012 General Elections:

1. Flt. Lt. J. J. Rawlings (NDC Founder & Chairman of Council of Elders)

2. H. E. John Mahama (Vice President)

3. Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (Member of NDC Finance Committee)

4. Professor Kofi Awoonor (Chairman of Council of State)

5. Captain Kojo Tsikata

6. Alhaji Idrissu Mahama

7. Alhaji Issifu Ali

8. Mr. J. H. Owusu-Akyeampong

9. Mr. Ato Ahwoi

10. Hon. Kwesi Ahwoi (Minister of Food & Agriculture)

11. Professor Kwamena Ahwoi

12. Mr. Kofi Totobi Quarkyi

13. Mr. P. V. Obeng

14. Mr. Kwame Peprah

15. Dr. Kwabena Adjei (NDC National Chairman)

16. Hon. Johnson Asiedu Nketia (NDC General Secretary)

17. Mr. Yaw Boateng Gyan (NDC National Organizer)

18. Naval Captain K. A. Butah (NDC Chairman of Finance Committee)

19. Mr. Kamel Norshie (NDC National Treasurer)

20. Madam Victoria Addy (NDC Member of Council of Elders)

21. Mr. Ohene Kena

22. All NDC Regional Chairmen

In the supreme interest of the Party I have, for the past three years, sincerely patiently and silently taken the position of a unifying middle liner between those who are perceived as major factions in the Party by many concerned and discerning Ghanaians, I have threaded this leadership path cautiously, hoping to keep the Party united and stable in my strong belief that it can provide an impregnable political fortress in which all members would have some unencumbered political space to realize their socio-economic aspirations.

However, most Party members do not think and feel that they have so far had that political space for which they dedicated their times, energies and resources during the 2008 electioneering campaign. Indeed, my impression is that most of our Party members do not even feel that they belong to a Party they aggressively defend. As a person who, without resources, contributed greatly to our electoral victory all I have deserved are abuse, character assassination, blocking of my efforts and physical threats to my person.

In all honesty, I cannot personally hide the fact that I have reached the limit of my patience and tolerance. Indeed, I can no longer put up with the on-going and well-known divisive machinations and schemes that threaten to wreck the Party's very survival and my person as the popularly elected Chairman.

Mr. President, I do hope that you understand, as much as I do, the seriousness of the threat to our great Party if I am forced to go public to cleanse my assassinated character hatched within the Party, and more importantly take the needed steps to straighten up the Party itself.

Sir, I am copying this letter to the NDC Founder, Flt Lt. J. J. Rawlings, in my strong conviction that so long as he lives and commands continued grassroots support, his relevance in our Party affairs can neither be questioned nor treated with contempt.

Thank you Sir.

Yours in the service of the NDC and Mother Ghana,

Hon. Dr. Kwabena Adjei

Copy: H.E. J. J. Rawlings.

NDC Founder, Accra.

A critical look at Dr Kwabena Adjei’s letter reveals a certain effort to tell that the main challenge confronting the NDC today is not the issue about the rift between President John Evans Atta Mills and former President Jerry John Rawlings. The letter indicates the problem goes beyond what everybody already knows.

The NDC chairman did not mince words in expressing his frustration and the frustration of party members, which he indicates he no longer can bear. He is thus asking President Mills for an urgent meeting with the listed persons.

The choice of this particular list of persons for the said meeting, in the NDC chairman’s wisdom, would be the best means of resolving the problem. He is the one who knows the nature of his problem and the persons who could help fix the broken pieces.

Dr Kwabena Adjei indicates how serious he views the problem he describes as a threat to the party, and it is important to note that this threat as he indicates is from within it.

In a press statement yesterday, President Mills noted that he has already met with the NDC chairman and some initial decision made for them to rather allow the National Executive Committee of the party handle the matter. What remains the question is as to when the NEC will meet over the matter.

Since the first public knowledge of this letter, our phone line has been inundated with calls from party faithful who agree totally with their party chairman for urgent steps to be taken to resolve all the thorny issues that threaten the party’s very survival and ability to retain power in the 2012 elections in December.