Plot to sack NDC chairman

As the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) reels under five straight electoral defeats in recent by-elections, the confusion is being used as a pretext by a faction in the party to sack National chairman, Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah.

“The Independent” indicates that there is a master plot by some elements within the party’s top hierarchy to ditch disgrace and sack Dr. Obed Asamoah as chairman of the NDC.

The “Let’s sack Obed” elements within the party executive are so irked about a recent interview Dr. Asamoah granted “The Ghanaian Chronicle” a private newspaper to the effect that he (Asamoah) does not believe the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has a hand in the resignation of the party’s MP for Amenfi West, Mr. Abraham Kofi Asante, and have resolved to teach their chairman a lesson.

“The plot which was hatched in Accra according to intelligence details available to this paper, is to be launched from the party’s wards and constituencies to appear as one based on popular appeal.”

“When contacted on the phone yesterday as to whether he knew of the plot, Dr. Asamoah only replied tersely, I will make a statement in the next day or two.”

The master plot, according to the paper, involves a special invitation to some party functionaries from the regions, under the pretext of attending an emergency meeting to discuss and appraise the NDC’s dismal performance in the last five by-elections.

The special operation, code-named “Operation Get Rid of OYA” could not come on as scheduled because of the Gomoa East by-election. The chosen activists and some executives of the party in the regions, obviously, those against Dr. Asamoah’s stewardship as chairman of the NDC are expected to be briefed on the urgent need for them to start some form of agitation, as it it is emanating from the grassroots, in the form of resolutions calling on the leadership of the NDC to either chairman or they will be calling on the chairman himself to resign honourably.

Aides of the NDC chairman, whose views were sought on the matter indeed confirmed the purported plot and vowed to quit the party should the people carry on with their diabolical plan.

Asked how they would interpret Dr. Asamoah’s answer that he will make a statement in a day or two, one Obed man said, although he would not know exactly what the old man meant, he believes that the man is prepared to meet his adversaries squarely.

However, the source did not rule out the possibility that Dr. Asamoah, by that statement, could also be implying he will quit the NDC to keep his integrity.

The reason, according to intelligence reports is that some party chiefs including the party’s Founder Jerry Rawlings are seething with rage over an interview Dr. Asamoah granted recently explaining the possible reasons why the former Amenfi West MP quit the party.

In the said interview, which was carried with the title; “Obed Asamoah clears NPP”…of MP Asante’s resignation, …Felt MP was upset,” Dr. Asamoah, said that he believed the ruling party did not have a hand in Kofi Asante’s decision to resign as the MP on the NDC ticket for the Amenfi Wes Constituency.

He blamed party members who manhandled him at the party’s presidential primaries held at Legon last December.

To Dr. Asamoah, the main problem facing the NDC was funds to enable it compete with the NPP in all recent five by-elections held and not the perceived feud between himself and the former president.

Many of the party’s stalwarts viewed the said interview with jaundiced eyes, accusing Dr Obed Asamoah of betraying the NDC cause.

Insiders dropped hints that the fuming executives accused Dr. Asamoah that his action undermines his position as chairman of a party like the NDC, and that such utterances only strengthen the perception that Dr. Asamoah is an agent of the NPP and will thus only do things that will discourage party cohesion and unity.

Dr. Asamoah’s buddy, Dr. Kwesi Botchwey who formed a dynamic duo with him during the PNDC regime to give that junta some form of acceptability, was also accused of being an NPP plant when he declined calls from party faithful to criticise the NPP’s economic policies.

The Mills camp overexploited that single act during the run up to the party’s congress last December when they told delegates that Dr. Botchwey was an NPP agent brought down by Dr. Asamoah to destabilize the NDC ostensibly to spite ex-president Rawlings whose relationship with him (Dr. Asamoah) had not been the best for the past two years.

“There are other litanies of accusations against the NDC chairman that our sources say are being considered by the plotters.

According to our sources, some party chiefs have still not forgiven Dr. Asamoah for likening the position of Prof. Mills to that of former United States vice-president Al Gore who said he was not going to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries because he lost to president George W. Bush in the general elections in 2000, which by inference, meant that Dr. Asamoah was also asking former vice-president Mills to quit the race in the larger interest of the NDC.”