Sly Mensah’s ‘No 3didigya’ raises eyebrows

Former CEO of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Sylvester Mensah, who is aspiring to be the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has reportedly released a social media poster ahead of efforts to gather support.

The intriguing part of the poster design is the slogan, “No 3didigya”, to wit, we won’t leave any member out.

‘3didigya’, translated literally from the Twi dialect means to eat or enjoy and depriving others from benefitting from same.

Mr Mensah’s slogan presupposes that he is going to make everyone benefit from whatever is there to be enjoyed. It is believed that the tagline is targeted at the grassroots of the party who feel somewhat neglected by the party hierarchy.

It will be recalled that confusion erupted at a press conference organised by the NDC at its headquarters in Accra on Monday, December 12 when towards the end of the press conference, a well-built man, a supporter of the party, stormed the conference and nearly attacked National Youth Organiser, Sidii Abubakar, and Deputy Communications Officer, Fred Agbenyo.

According to the angry man, he could not fathom why money given to the leaders for the 2016 campaign did not trickle down to the grassroots to intensify the party's efforts at winning more votes for the re-election of President John Mahama.

For him, the leaders were to blame for Mr Mahama’s loss to the flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the just-ended elections.

Even though the party leadership has not announced a date for presidential primaries, aspirants have begun subtle campaigns and Mr Mensah’s strategy seemed to be geared towards reviving the grassroots.

It is unclear if former President John Dramani Mahama who was beaten by the then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will contest again in 2020, but other bigwigs whose names have popped up as having ambitions for the flagbearership, include Professor Joshua Alabi, former SSNIT Board Chairman; Ekow Spio Garbrah, former Minister for Trade and Industry and Alban Bagbin, Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament.