The man at the centre of the self-destructive feud in the National Democratic Congress, Dr Obed Asamoah is waving the white flag in a war he believes has been fought more by "perception" of conflict between himself and former President Jerry Rawlings than by the perceived 'Generals' of the warring factions. The former Minister of Justice who has made no secret of his desire to be elected chairman of the second largest political party in the country appears very frustrated by the "mischief" to smear him and the diversion of precious political energy into the pursuit of a suicidal infighting. He is therefore calling for peace.
Since President Kufuor's win in December 2000, the NDC has been in a state of shock, moreover, suffering from a prelapsarian innocence on how to drive forward from the hard shoulder of opposition tarmac.
Many observers are beginning to wonder whether the NDC should now be considered the natural party of opposition - A far cry from a few years ago when it won an unprecedented two consecutive elections. Until the NPP unseated it; Rawlings' baby looked like the natural party of government after its leadership, including Dr Obed Asamoah had ruled for the eleven years before January 7, 1993 as the PNDC. Today, the party seems dominated by the polarized mud-wrestling of the Rawlings and Obed factions. Sadly, for many of the party's ordinary members, the feuding upper echelons thus far appear to view dispute settlements as an esoteric exercise, alien to them.
Asked if the proper and mature thing to do will not be to meet Rawlings, an old close buddy, face to face to smoke the piece pipe, which incidentally would serve as a chemotherapic cure to the cancer of bad blood that seems to be eating the party from the inside? Dr Obed Asamoah responded: "that seems an idea worth considering. Indeed I will welcome such a development."
He, however, added that shortly after the emergency meeting, which decided to postpone the party’s congress until April or thereabout, a "group of party elders was set up to resolve the differences within the party, and particularly to enquire into the reported row between himself and Rawlings. The group of elders are at work, he said, so "we should wait to see what comes out of the exercise." He still insists that as far as he is concerned there is no rift between the two of them.
While confirming that he met his former boss at that meeting, he pointed out that the opportunity did not arise for them to hold any meaningful talks on their reported differences. He dismissed the allegations of misappropriating party resources thrown at him as nonsense. Recalling that Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu was also on the Re-organization Committee with him and they traveled around the constituencies together, mindful not to conduct themselves in a way as to be seen to be influencing the selection of local executives.
"In fact, we both took a conscious decision to excuse ourselves when votes were being taken." He also claims that Rawlings' preferred candidate, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu was equally as disposed as he was and did not therefore had any advantage in unfairly mounting a pre-campaign canvassing of party delegates.
Dr Obed appears extremely frustrated by what he considers as non-issues hijacking the necessary task of re-organising the party, which lost power to the NPP after eight years at the helm of the nation's affairs.
But another leading NDC member who denies that there is nothing like a pro-party-democratization faction as opposed to a conservative one, accuses Obed of causing the rift in the party in the first place. The source said that Dr Obed Asamoah is falsely giving the impression that there is a faction in the party that opposes reform. Secondly, the source describes Obed's "premature announcement" to bring back the old stalwarts, such as Kojo Tsikata, P.V. Obeng and Kwesi Botwe, to be what caused the friction.
The source asked rhetorically, "where have these men been in the last few years," questioning their loyalty to the party. Also the source disclosed that because of serious political or personal differences between the said former NDC leading members and the then President Rawlings, it was not at all tactical of Dr Obed Asamoah to have made his intentions known at the time that he did shortly before the expected Party Congress last December. It is recalled that the founder of the party was reportedly livid at Obed's plans, vowing to resist them at all cost.
Subsequent reports even questioned the claim that Rawlings is the bona fide founder of the party. This, Obed dismisses as academic. He says that Rawlings is the founder of the party, because, at least, the former PNDC chairman was "the inspiration behind the formation of the National Democratic congress as a political party." It was difficult not to read into this as a sign that Dr Obed Asamoah is sincerely committed to burying the hatch, whether imagined or real, between himself and his former boss.
