NDC targets 178 seats in 2016 - Kobby Fiagbe

The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is likely to “convincingly” win the 2016 general elections with 178 Parliamentary seats “across the length and breadth of the country”, says Kobby Fiagbe, the Editor of the Ghanaian Lens newspaper, who on Monday, officially launched his campaign to become the National Propaganda Secretary of the NDC.

In his estimation, President Mahama is also certain to retain a second tenure with “not less than 53.6% of the valid votes cast,” Mr. Fiagbe estimated during his campaign launch in Accra on Monday.

He believes that an additional tenure for the NDC and President Mahama at the helm of affairs in government would visibly bring the needed transformation for Ghana, saying he “believes 8 years as President will be enough for President Mahama to transform the structure of the Ghanaian economy.”

Kobby Fiagbe has been given the green light by the NDC top hierarchy, having successfully gone through vetting and has vowed to radically disseminate the NDC’s success story.

“I am on the move to tell the rich story and unique attributes of the NDC as a party and as a government. I have been motivated to rise to the challenge because there is work to be done. I thank the rank and file of the party – Executives and non-Executives (footsoldiers) whose calls helped shape my decision to contest for the position of the National Propaganda Secretary of our great NDC party,” he said in a statement released at the campaign launch.

According to Mr. Fiagbe, he is the right person to tell the countless socio-economic achievements of the NDC that the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is trying feverishly to twist against the ruling party. He referred to the need to counter the NPP’s insistent criticisms about the loans secured by the NDC since it assumed power.

“The NPP knows about these projects because every single one of them went through parliament for approval. Yet out of the ‘m’ahye da’ (deliberately mischievous) politics espoused by Hon. Dr Akoto Osei, they have not stopped questioning the NDC on what the loans have been used for,” he said.

“…the NPP says they “need to up their game.” At the time that the NPP is talking about the need to up their game, the consensus in the NDC is that the party’s propaganda machinery has become comatose.Kobby Fiagbe is reporting for duty to set the records straight!” Mr. Fiagbe told media men at the launch that the NPP appear to be winning the political war of words due to what he described as the ‘comatose’ and ‘ineffectiveness’ of the current propaganda arm of the NDC.

“…this can only happen because the NPP feels confident about the ineffectiveness of the NDC propaganda wing. The time has come to bring back the verve into the propaganda wing. I am the person to lead the effort in that direction,” he charged.

Mr. Fiagbe with his media background is being tipped as the clear favorite in the race for the propaganda secretary, even though he would be facing off with Solomon Nkansah, the current Deputy National Propaganda Secretary of the ruling party.

The communications and propaganda arm of the ruling party has often been criticized by the quality of counter-measures adopted to parry the oppositions’ attempt to sully the ruling party.

This, Kobby Fiagbe says would change if elected as the new propaganda secretary, promising to “bring back the verve” in NDC communications.

He has outlined a three-pronged approach to his plan to bring back the verve, saying it would involve effective research, retooling and retraining party communications machinery.

“We all remember with various degrees of nostalgia the days of Setting the Records Straight under Fifi Kwetey. The research backbone that helped Fifi to succeed and in so doing energized the party is still very much available, except that it is not being tapped into. As an integral part of that research backbone, I know how to effectively crank it back into full operations. Even more importantly, is to ensure that the information gets to our communicators in every part of the nation for effective dissemination,” he explained.

In his quest to revive the NDC communications machinery, he promised to deploy modern communication tools such as the social media, mobile applications and other Internet Protocol (IP) based strategies, “ I get the impression that these things have not been provided because of unavailability of funds. As far as I'm concerned, the excuse of unavailability of funds is an exercise in self-indictment because if funds have not been available in the last two years such that the propaganda wing has become ineffective, does it not stand to reason that in the next two years we will remain in the same quagmire?”

The elections for the propaganda secretary and other executive position of the party are scheduled for December 20, 2014. An earlier election was held on Saturday December 6, 2014 to elect the party’s national youth organiser, his deputies and the national women organiser.