Giving Stan Xoese Dogbe a bad name to hang him

As the soul searching and its attendant blame game continues within the NDC, certain personalities have become the main objects of attacks, ridicule and opprobrium from fellow party members. It is being held that they are the main causes of the pasty’s loss in the just ended elections. We are here referring to the attacks on the likes of Stan Dogbe. But exactly how did Stan cause the defeat of the party?

Stan Dogbe was not a member of the National Campaign Team. He did not handle campaign cash not its disbursement. He is simply an aide to the President whose duty among other things, it is to ensure that all, including journalists, especially members of the Presidential Press Corp, are in place to enable the President deliver his speech smoothly and be covered by the media adequately. Stan also attends to some other personal issues for the President. So, how is he to take the blame for our electoral defeat?

We have seen Stan stay awake throughout the night many times like many compatriots burning the midnight oil to ensure that the President’s programmes come off smoothly. We are also aware that the President has on many occasions praised him for the yeoman’s job he has done on specific occasion. We are unaware of any complaints by the President that he is not performing his duty. So, why should he be blamed for the NDC’s electoral defeat?

Stan Dogbe is not infallible. Like any other human, he has his weaknesses. We also are in no doubt that in the performance of his duties, he has stepped on toes. Don’t we all, in the performance of our duties at home or in the office, step on toes? A person therefore deserves the right like any other to dislike Stan for perhaps stepping on his or her toes while performing his duties. But to try to hang the NDC’s electoral defeat on his neck even though he was not a member of the NDC’s campaign team nor did he handle campaign cash is unfair and wrong. It is an attempt to give a dog a bad name so it can be hanged!

We have also noted some very absurd statement from certain NDC officials who seek to blame the young ones in the executive of the party for the defeat.

What balderdash! Must a person attain the age of Methuselah before he becomes qualified to be a member of the executive arm of government? In other jurisdictions even in the so-called advance democracies, people in their thirties and early forties have been elected Presidents and Prime Ministers.

So, it is a vexation to the spirit for anyone to suggest that the NDC’s electoral defeat was caused because some of the people around the President were not Methuselahs. Were the people around President Rawlins and President Kufuor not old folks when the NDC and later the NPP lost the elections in 2000 and 2008?

The NDC’s shocking defeat is really painful especially when one looks at the yeoman’s job President Mahama has done. It has left many traumatized. The blame game going on is natural. But we find it amazing that those who are pointing accusing fingers at others include those who sat on campaign monies and refused to disburse it, those who could not even manage themselves and lost their own positions in internal primaries as well as those whose arrogance when they were DCEs etc caused disaffection for the party!

It is time to curtail the blame game and begin to reorganize to investigate properly the cause of the NDC’s shocking defeat. We expect the General Secretary of the party to quickly move to tell supporters and members the party’s next cause of action and direction. It is time for a task force to be set up to find out what went wrong to enable the party move on and reorganize. The youth of the party, left traumatized, are rightfully angry. The least the party can do for them is to avoid leaving a vacuum that leaves them wondering what next because many have risked their future for the party.