About 1,400 delegates of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Saturday began a historic congress at the Central Cafeteria of the University of Ghana, Legon, to elect a flag-bearer in its desire to win back power from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2004 general elections.
The event, the second National Delegates' Congress of the party since its electoral defeat in 2000 would see delegates choosing between Professor John Evans Atta Mills, former Vice President and Dr Kwesi Botchwey, former Minister of Finance and Economic Planning.
The congress on the theme "Moving Together in Unity and Vision Toward Social Democracy," was characterized by high tension and excitement and attended by high ranking members including the two candidates, the former President and Founder of the Party, Jerry John Rawlings and Dr Obed Asamoah, Chairman.
At about 1000 hours, delegates sporting different party clothes had sat down amidst the sound of booming gospel music, to which some of them danced.
At exactly 1040, Dr Botchwey accompanied by Mr Mike Gizo, MP for Shai Osudoku arrived in the hall with a king-size electronic camera and televisions fixed to transmit proceedings to the supporters outside.
The arrival of Prof. Mills 10 minutes later attracted cheers, dancing and the sounding of trumpets, as he greeted the delegates with a bow, mounted the dais and shook hands with his contender, Dr Botchwey.
After a welcoming address by Mr Joshua Alabi, Grater Accra Regional Chairman, in which he called for unity and focusing the energies of the party to win back power.
Dr Asamoah took the stage and condemned what he called "a campaign of vilification" against him as Chairman of the Party.
"Since I sought the chairmanship of the NDC I have been the subject of vile propaganda that beats the imagination of many. Now that Dr Kwesi Botchwey is seeking the flagbearership of the Party the attacks have included him and have been intensified".
He asked: "How can we develop a fighting machine to challenge the NPP or create the confidence in our people that we are a Party to support in the face of this development?"
Dr Asamoah also condemned the practice of character assassination within the party and urged the delegates to be guided by its quest to recapture power in 2004.
"The issue is not against winning an internal struggle but about wining elections against NPP."
He said it was crucial for the NDC to win in some "Akan regions" before it could win the 2004 elections, but noted that it did poorly in those areas in the 2000 elections
The National Chairman said the Party must broaden its support base noting that, it had lost a number of old comrades.
He said, "The haemorrhage became profuse with the formation of the Prof Mills for flag bearer of the NDC".
Dr Asamoah catalogued the cause of the defeat of the NDC in the 2000 general elections as apathy, formation of an alliance of minority parties with the NPP and a closure of the borders of Togo to its supporters to return home to cast their votes.
He said unless the NDC won back those who left the party in 2000, the NDC could never expect to win.
"We must further appreciate that elections are won or lost with the floating voters who in any given situation are more than the committed party supporters accounting for as much as 70 per cent of the voter population.
"Between the first and the second rounds of voting in the 2000 elections, the shift to the Kufuor camp was as much as 8.46 per cent of the votes cast. If these votes had come to us, we would have won," Dr Asamoah said.
He accused the NPP government for failing to live up to expectation on the economy and said a person with proven competence and technical know-how had to be sought to redeem the economy in 2004.
Dr Asamoah said abstract factors, as personality, charisma, approachability and the ability to deliver a message are contributory factors to success in a general election and urged the delegates to be conscious of these factors, as they cast their votes.
Those in the hall booed and jeered some shouting, "shame", "ooho" and "sit down" when Dr Asamoah asked the delegates to take as food for thought former US Vice President Al Gore's decision not to contest the position of flag-bearer of the Democratic Party.
Dr Asomoah's speech was briefly held up with the welcoming cheers of the audience on the arrival at about 11:12 hours of Mrs Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and former President Rawlings, who shed tears.
A solidarity message from the NPP said it was happy about the universal democratic process by the NDC to elect a flag-bearer.
It noted that by going through the process, the NDC was contributing to entrenching democracy and constitutionality in Ghana.
Other solidarity messages came from the EGLE Party, National Reform Party, Convention People's Party and Great Consolidated People's Party as well as from branches of the NDC in Europe, US and Nigeria.
