Trouble for Atta Mills

DR. KWESI Botchwey, the biggest threat to ex- Vice President Evans Atta Mills in the race for NDC flagbearer, scored some excellent points when he delivered the salvo and told party supporters who gathered at the Accra Arts Centre that he was the sparkling man the NDC needed to wrest power from the ruling NPP government.

Not only did the former Finance Minister deliver a very impressive speech, he was confident and candid. He also answered all the controversial questions posed to him by the media so well that sections of the media gave him a thumb up.

After lecturing his supporters about his vision for the party and the country, Dr. Botchwey reiterated that the NDC had paid the ultimate price of losing the 2000 elections and that what the party needed was a "I am a winning candidate and I am a wining candidate".

Speaking at the official launch of his campaign at the centre over the weekend he said "I believe that I offer the best opportunity for unifying and strengthening our party.

I am in this for the long haul and I am confident that the democratic forces within and outside the party who I know are with me will prevail." "Let your conscience be your guide and not your accomplice," he said.

The aspiring NDC flag bearer added that he was happy that the culture whereby leaders hand-picked flagbearers and had them coronated by acclamation was giving way to a process where the flag bearer is picked through open and competitive elections.

According to him, the party needs to be united and the best way to achieve this unity within the NDC is to deepen every party member's understanding of the basic philosophy and principles that the party stands for. "We will be united by those loyalties to the principles" he said.

Continuing, he said "I have said publicly and I will say again that factionalism based on shades and nuances of differences over principles are welcome so that there is competition of ideas."

The former minister added that there is the need to avoid destructive factionalism which he explained as factionalism that is underpinned by loyalty to persons other than the party.

To this end, he observed that factions that are founded on loyalties to individuals are very complicated and become very difficult to solve. He urged members to desist from such tendencies.

On the controversial issue about his cloudy relationship with former President Rawlings and why he resigned from the NDC government, he explained that he resigned as minister because he lost the confidence of ex-President Rawlings.

Dr. Botchwey added that in that circumstance, the best to do was to resign so that the President could appoint somebody whose trust he enjoyed as Finance Minister. He also cited emotional stress as among the reasons for his resignation from his post as minister.

Dr. Botchwey noted that there is the urgent need to strengthen respect for party structures at all levels, strengthen respect for ideological foundations through various study groups in all areas and constituencies so as to enable the party become not just an electioneering machine that is cranked up on the eve of an election but rather a vehicle for continuing mobilisation.

He called for a party that is bound together by ties of camaraderie and loyalty to principles as opposed to leaders.

WHY NDC LOST

Recalling events of his hey days as Finance Minister, Dr. Botchwey said that during the PNDC era, important building blocks were laid for a renewed programme of social democratic transformation based on a credible decentralisation effort.

"This was continued under the NDC, but we began to falter as the power of incumbency began to slowly eat away at our resolve and our sense of direction. We paid a price, the ultimate political price of the loss of political power" He noted.

Dr. Botchwey also noted that shortly after the 2000 elections there were many people who predicted the disintegration of the NDC adding that "we have survived, thanks in a large measure to the work of a combination of old and new blood in our party, especially the parliamentarians and party faithfuls who kept the struggle instead of yielding to despondency in the face of recriminations and intimidation."