NDC saw Mahama’s defeat last year but ignored it – Teye Nyaunu

Controversial former Member of Parliament for Lower Manya Krobo has squarely blamed the leadership of the National Democratic Congress for its failure to avert President Mahama’s defeat, which it had knowledge of, at least a year before it manifested.

Michael Teye Nyaunu, who waded into the numerous theories on why the government lost the 2016 general elections, said the signal became obvious when President Mahama was made to go unopposed.

“We could see the defeat staring us in the face but we ignored it,” he told TV3 Midday Live on Monday.

Seed for defeat

“The seed for the defeat was sowed during the primaries – both presidential and parliamentary [last year],” he clarified.

Explaining further, Mr. Teye Nyaunu, known as MTN in the political circus, blamed the party executive for its calculated efforts that muscled out a number of potential presidential candidates in the party.

Only one person mustered the courage to contest Mahama for the party’s primary last year, but was kicked out because the party’s General Secretary suggested he was not of sound mind.

According to Teye Nyaunu, it was not the case that people were not interested in unseating Mahama within the party but because the leadership of the party “shut the doors” on all.

“All machineries were set towards that,” a situation he described as “unfortunate”. He believed competition would have “brought the best out of” Mahama.

Interestingly, the former MP was appointed the chairman of President John Mahama’s 2016 campaign team in selected constituencies in the Eastern Region.

He was however not so convinced that President Mahama was the party’s best choice for this year’s elections.

“Until you make comparison you cannot say he is the best,” he asserted.

Teye Nyaunu was also sure that how the party organized its parliamentary primaries contributed to the party’s defeat.

He claimed some party members were “consciously disenfranchised” and could therefore not vote during the primaries.

Most of them did not feel motivated to participate in the general elections, he analysed.

Asked why he did not raise this issue before the elections, he pointed out that the “party leadership knew better than I do”.

He challenged any “proper research” to disprove his position.

The New Patriotic Party’s candidate, Nana Akfuo-Addo beat President Mahama in excess of 1,000,000 votes in the 2016 presidential election with a comfortable majority in Parliament.