NDC tactician and Member of Parliament for Ningo/Prampram, Enoch Teye Mensah says upon a critical analysis of the fortunes of the party the past three years, executives of the party the past three years, executives of the party have been able to identify the shortfalls that preceded the loss to the New Patriotic Party in the 2000 elections.
He has therefore dismissed all assertions by person he describes as NPP serial callers and spin-doctors to the effect that the NDC can never recapture political power.
Insisting that the figures do not support those assertions, E.T. said the NPP would be misleading itself if the party?s top executives ever thought that it is as popular as its spin-doctors would want the country to believe.
On why the NDC lost the elections of 2000 including the loss of 15 vital parliamentary seats, Mr Mensah said the party identified mostly, the profound damage caused its chances by Goosie Tanoh?s National Reform Party (NRP) and the consequent clamour by so-called disaffected personalities to contest parliamentary elections independently.
Mr Mensah who was talking to newsmen at his palatial Prampram base after he was retained unopposed to contest the Ningo/Prampram set for the third time, gave numbers to support his claim.
He said in the 1992 presidential election, then candidate Rawlings got 2.3 million votes against 1.1 million for Professor Albert Adu-Boahen. Also, in 1996, candidate Rawlings got more than 4million of the total votes cast whilst candidate Kufour got 2.8 million ? a difference of more than 1.2 million votes.
However, in 2000, E.T. Mensah said candidate Kufour got 3.1 million of the total votes cast representing 48.17% as against Prof. Mills? 2.8 million which represented 44.5% of votes. The very visible former minister for Youth and Sports whose tenure, though acknowlegeably long, also saw Ghana make appreciable strides in Sports explained that in terms of numbers, only 226 votes separated the two candidates.
Mr Mensah also fell on tradition to define his optimism; describing the traditional support base of the NDC as far larger than that of traditional UP in our recent historic past. According to him, that is why despite the major disaffection that pursued the NDC before and during the 2000 elections, the NPP could still manage only 100 seats against the 94 won by the NDC.
In a related story, E T Mensah has been endorsed as NDC parliamentary candidate for this year?s general election at the party?s primaries at Old Ningo.
The December elections will be Mr. Mensah?s fourth attempt. All 30 party executive members of the constituency unanimously declared their support for him to run for the fourth time on the party?s ticket. His endorsement came after no candidate filed to challenge him at the close of the nominations.
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Mensah debunked speculations that the NDC is anti Ningo. He said the people of Ningo and Prampram had so many things in common, including language, colour, custom and beliefs. He mentioned the construction of roads and schools as some development projects the two towns benefited from during the tenure of the NDC.
Mr. Mensah accused the NPP of adopting divide and rule tactics and being behind all the negative rumours in the constituency. He asked the constituency executives to work hard to ensure victory for the NDC in the December elections.
