Obed Asamoah Speaks Out (Part I)

Dr. Yao Obed Asamoah, former Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and a founding father of the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has spoken out. Dr. Asamoah, who was also at one time, Minister for Foreign Affairs, was the guest of the JOY FM Super Morning Show host, Efo Komla Dumor. Below are excepts from the first part of the hour long chart they had.

Komla Dumor (KD): You have revealed that you were going to go back to your law practice, are you going to stick to those plans?

Dr. Obed Asamoah (OA): Well, it is possible. For now, I am just resting and taking care of personal problems that have been left unattended for so long. But it is likely and that in the near future, I will get back to something.

KD: Ok, let's get back to something. Is it true that you've quite the NDC?

OA: What a joke, it is not possible, it is not possible. Nobody can entice me with anything that will make me leave the NDC. I have had some rest, I will take on the task of ensuring that the NDC is rebuilt and that in the next four years, we are back into power.

KD: You talked about rebuilding the NDC. Will that then suggest that the NDC has suffered a lot of damage or is it a broken party?

OA: Well, I think that obviously, we have lost some members and some support. For example, the Reform Party was an off-shoot of the NDC and of course with what has happened, there is a certain amount of fear you know, and some people are probably a little disheartened. They need to rebuild their spirit and then of course there has to be some re-organisation on the ground. You may not be having the same amount of support that you had before. Some people may have shifted to other parties. So you need to do some re- organisation then of course, you need to broaden your outlook. You have to look into the possibility of working with other forces and that sort of thing, so there is work to be done.

KD: You talked about the Reform. Is it part of the strategy to bring them back into the fold?

OA: Well, I think this is something that one will have to look into. You know, you can't do politics by excluding people and with party politics, it is the process of enlarging your base of support. So you should always be looking into avenues of enlarging that base of support and it's something you have to look into. And you always welcome anybody who will want to work with you.

KD: It was reported that there was a meeting of the NDC leadership recently and it was chaired by Prof. Atta-Mills. You know, it was about rebuilding the party. Were you there?

OA: I have attended some meetings but I don't know about this particular meeting. But almost at every meeting of course there has been some ...

KD: So there have been some post-election meetings on rebuilding the party.

OA: Oh yes, several meetings.

KD: And at these meetings, can you tell about some of the issues that have come up?

OA: Well, I mean the primary issue of course, the question everybody asks: You know what happened, you know there is every reason.

KD: What happened, you lost?

OA: There are several reasons, you know, I think by and large, a lot of us took things for granted. You know, I think we could have worked a little harder than we did and then there are other several factors which I wouldn't want to go into right now. Basically of course, I don't believe in these kind of post-mortems which if you are not very careful sometimes, will create more tension and division. Because particularly when you do post-mortem which tends to apportion blames, you know that kind of thing can be dangerous.

KD: But isn't it good to look back and do an honest even though may be bitter review of what you failed to do and to tell people blatantly that you really messed up here?

OA: Well, I think that to tell them blatantly perhaps may not be a right approach, I think that if you can discuss things with people and then make everyone realize perhaps where he has been at fault.

KD: Before the run-off, we had Mr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah in the studio and he said one of the problems the NDC had is that some people were playing the wrong roles. He drew an analogy to a football game where you have say, a striker now playing as goalkeeper and a keeper playing as defender. Were people play the wrong roles and could that have been one of the reasons?

OA: Well, I don't know what he had in mind. I will have to understand the sort of people he thought were playing the wrong roles before I can really comment on that.

KD: Well, some will say that the party isn't going to survive.

OA: Well, that is a joke again. I mean it is going to survive. We have about 92 Members of Parliament. We are the largest opposition party which is almost equal in strength to the governing party, there is no way anybody can talk of a party of this nature not surviving. Nobody who, seriously believes in getting into power, can think of doing that other than through a party of that strength. So really, I mean even for all the other opposition parties if they want to think of the process of getting into power other than by associating themselves with the NPP, they will have to deal with the NDC.

KD: Yes, now there are those who argue though that the party itself revolved round the personality of the former President, J.J. Rawlings, and now that he is an ex-President and some assume that he is out of active party politics, then the party really is at a loss for leadership. Is the ex- President out of active party politics? Is he going to revive the party? If no, who is?

OA: Well, I think even before the elections, during a number of rallies, he did explain that he would want after leaving office, to get back and get involved into re-organising the party. You know, I mean he said that openly and very often.

KD: Has he been at any of the meetings you've had so far?

OA: Yes, I know that he has been at one particular meeting.

KD: Any that you attended?

OA: No. On that day, I wasn't at the meeting, I was told that he was present. As to what role he is going to play and how deep he is going to get involved, of course we have to wait for events to unfold. But I expect him to be involved in the rebirth or more or less rebuilding of the party.

KD: Yes, but what about those who have argued that he is an ex-President, there is just so much he can do to put the party together. Isn't there any one within the current structure of the NDC who you think is pulling the party together? What about Prof. Atta-Mills?

OA: Well, I think that is got to be a collective effort. Everybody has some role to play and everybody has some value that he can contribute to the party. So I think we have to look at things in terms of the collective for the collective leadership.

KD: What does the Constitution of the NDC say about the role of Prof. Atta-Mills? Does he technically become the leader of the party now? Is he considered the leader of the party?

OA: No. Under our Constitution, the President, that is Flt-Lt. Rawlings, is the leader of the party and the running-mate is a member of the Council of Elders. You know, I don't mean the running mate, the flagbearer and of course also the running mate, they are members of the Council of Elders and they will continue to play that role.

KD: So there are several other people within that council of elders, obviously?

OA: Oh yes.