"I love NDC, I'm proud of it" – Rex Omar

Veteran highlife musician Rex Omar has said he loves the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and is also proud of it.

He told Natalia Andoh on Class91.3FM’s mid-morning show Touch of Class on Friday, 1 November 2019 that artistes are just like any other ordinary citizen and, so, should be allowed to freely associate with their preferred political parties and advocate their policies publicly if they so wish to do.

“I think it’s about time that we allowed artistes to also speak their mind”, he declared, noting: “We are artistes but we’re also citizens: we have families, we have children, we are part of the system”.

“You cannot say: ‘Because you’re an artiste, because you belong to the NDC or NPP then I hate you’. Then what kind of system are we running?” he wondered.

Asked if his love for the NDC has affected his music career in any way, Rex Omar said: “No way, my music is for the world, Ghana is a small country and I’m a Ghanaian, I have every right [to talk politics]”.

“It is all of us who chose multiparty democracy”, he reminded, saying: “Multiparty democracy means freedom of speech, freedom of association.

“There are people who say: ‘You are a musician, so, you don’t do politics’. Am I the only musician doing politics? Bob Marley was doing politics, Alpha Blondy does politics, a lot of musicians do politics but here in our country, there’s no middle ground. Those people who say: ‘I’m neutral’, he’ll come in public and say: ‘I’m neutral’ but he knows he’s not neutral.

“So, me, I want to effect a change. It’s either you stand for something or you don’t stand for anything. I want to have a change, an effect with the creative arts. I think I have a lot to contribute. It’s either I belong to the NDC or NPP, it’s as simple as that.

“If you stand and sit behind the bench and talk, you can have your say and they will have their way. You can only effect the change within, so, if I belong to one political party, when they come to power, maybe my voice will be heard and the change [will happen].

“There are a lot of creative people also in NPP, why don’t you complain about that? So, to me, I don’t have any issue. The most important thing is: I don’t hate anybody because he’s in NPP or another party, it’s about issues; what we should stay away from is the insults and personal attacks with other political opponents. We are building a country, we have chosen a system of governance, so, let’s follow it, unless we all decide one day that: Leta ’s do one-party state, then we all belong to one party then it’s like that but so long as we are running a multiparty democracy, I have every right as an artiste to choose my political party, which is NDC, and I love it and I’m proud of it and I’m going to always advocate it”, Rex Omar asserted.



Watch the full interview below: