Prof. Botchwey cries out to NDC ‘dissidents’ to pipe down

Chairman of the committee inquiring into the abysmal performance of the then governing NDC in the 2016 general elections, Prof. Kwesi Botchwey has appealed to angry members of the party to let cool heads prevail.

The NDC Election Review Committee, he said has noted with “regret” how some members of the party are resorting to the media to vent their anger as to why the party lost the elections with a wide margin.

The former president, John Mahama, lost in excess of one million votes to Nana Akufo-Addo, the man he defeated in the previous elections that ended up at the Supreme Court.

The party also lost majority of seats in Parliament. The committee was therefore set up by the party to establish what accounted for the defeat, but some aggrieved functionaries including leader members prefer pouring out their indignation in public through the media instead of channeling them through the committee.

But Prof. Botchwey in a statement asked members of the party to control their temper and avoid prosecuting their concerns in public.

“The Committee would like to urge all Party members to resist the temptation to engage in recriminations and finger pointing, so as not to undermine the integrity of the Committee’s final report and recommendations, or sour the atmosphere for the conduct of the Committees work.”

He also noted, “The Committee’s doors are open and we urge all Party members who have issues to raise or concerns to express to direct them to the Committee to help the search for solutions to the challenges confronting the party. “