NPP Nasara Club more attractive than NDC Zongo Caucus – Bagbin

The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has become disintegrated so much to the extent that it has lost hold of its once strong and vibrant Zongo Caucus to the governing New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Nasara Club.

The NPP’s Nasara Club, he noted, has become so attractive that followers and members of the NDC’s Zongo Caucus are now leaving to join to them.

“Before, the Zongos in Ghana were heavily supportive of the NDC. The Muslims were heavily supportive of the NDC. Today, that number has reduced. Nasara Club is now even looking more attractive than our own [NDC] Zongo Caucus. And so, you see in the elections, we are now losing our hold even though the Muslims will admit that the NDC did more for them than the NPP. That they know, so why is it that they are now leaving and joining the NPP and other political parties? It means there is something we are doing wrong which has to be changed”, he noted.

Hon. Bagbin made this observation when addressing the Chiefs and Elders of Nkwanta as well as some party executives in the area during his tour to the Volta Region on Tuesday, August 14, 2018.

He had moved to Nkwanta to seek the blessings and support of the Chiefs and people of the area before commencing his campaign to contest the vacant flagbearer position of the NDC. Among the Chiefs present was Nana C. K. Gentey, Isaaka Ibrahim Kayaba, Chief of the Zongo, Nana Akola Obiako III and Nana Amoah Boafo III.

The Nadowli/Kaleo lawmaker commenting further also mentioned the 31st December Women’s Movement as a strategic group that the NDC was relying heavily to win elections but which they have also lost hold of.

“If you look at our women, when we started, 31st December – a lot of women followed it and they were with NDC. Today where are the women? A lot of the women are leaving the NDC and joining the NPP. There must be a reason”, he posited.

Another strategic group, he pointed the NDC has also lost hold of, is the youth. The Volta Region which is the stronghold of the NDC, he further argued, is gradually, falling in numbers with some of the people who had the party at heart now joining the NPPP and other political parties.



“Look at the youth? We used to have a lot of the youth with the NDC. Today, the youth are leaving and joining NPP and other parties. Volta Region – the ‘World Bank’ of the NDC where we used to harvest the votes – 2016 they showed us the red card. Something is wrong that is why they did that. Not because they don’t like NDC but something went wrong so they showed us the red card”, he noted.

He added “We used to get over 85% turn out and voting for the NDC. The last election we got about 62%. Something is wrong. And so when I say we must change I am not talking about only changing the leader John Dramani Mahama but I am also talking about the way we do things as a party. Your children are all not following you to the NDC because they are watching you. So, all those years you followed the NDC what did you get and you are also asking us to follow you? That is the situation because when somebody is doing something and you see that the person is gaining – he is getting what he wants you see that you are attracted to follow the person but if the person is getting worse, how can you follow the person to also go and suffer? So we need to change. It is as a result of the wrong understanding of politics by NDC. Politics is about the people deciding that we want to develop; we want to get better; we want to improve our livelihood; so we want you to lead us so they vote for you”.

He said for the NDC to win the 2020 elections and stay in power for long, it must re-organize itself properly to become stronger than before.

This, he noted, will enable them to regain all the strategic areas in the society they have lost hold of, stressing that the votes in those areas have always cushioned the NDC to victory.