NDC has still not recovered from its “dark days” – Kofi Adams

Deputy General Secretary of the ruling NDC, Kofi Adams says the party has not yet recovered from its dark days.

According to him, those dark moments have affected the party greatly, and its ramifications are still being felt.


He alluded to the party’s National Delegates’ Congress in Sunyani when the 2012 Presidential candidate and leader of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, nursed interest in contesting the flagbearership slot against the late former President John Evans Atta Mills.


Prior to the party’s National Congress in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, the NDC appeared split into two factions with some members accusing the then leader and President of the Republic of Ghana of deviating from the course of the party.


The wrangling was so bitter and intense that some members decided to discontinue their association with the NDC and rather threw their weight behind the Rawlingses.


Though Mrs Rawlings was soundly beaten by the former late president, her resolve to become president was so strong that she moved to form her own party to contest the 2012 presidential and parliamentary election.


Recounting the ordeal the party underwent during such times, Mr. Adams said the battle between the two leaders was misconstrued leading to some being expelled from the party after falling to the camp of the NDP Flagbearer who were regarded as 'rebels'.

Mr. Adams, speaking on Radio Gold, stressed that: “it wasn’t easy at all. And it affected the party up till today; it is still affecting the party that some persons who showed face in supporting her were seen in a way as if they were rebels.”


Though it appears the NDC is putting its pieces together, Mr. Adams believes the past sapped the vibrancy of the party and, therefore, advised the leadership and members to take a cue from the times of yore.


He was hopeful there will not be a repetition of such events as the party garners strength to overcome its challenges, especially now that it has successfully gained electoral victory for the fourth time.


“I will not subscribe that it happens again. We need to learn some lessons out of that process…I think it did not help the party ultimately. The party lost a lot of its human resources,” he stated, adding that: “we did not forgive ourselves that easily for supporting this one or for supporting the other one. And since it had happened, I don’t think we should allow us to go through that phase again.”


The way forward for the NDC, he suggested, is for the leadership to devise a mechanism where sitting Parliamentarians and Presidents who rode on its name to clinch victory in the elections will be made to meet some requirements anytime they nurture a desire to contest their seats.