Saturday, 26th September 2009 was a day fixed for elections of new executives for the UK/Ireland Branch of the National Democratic Congress. The photographers, news reporters, members and aspiring members at the meeting could barely believe their luck when the current Deputy Chief of Staff of Ghana and Chairman of the NDC UK/Ireland branch walked out of the meeting that was scheduled to elect new executives for the UK/Ireland branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). The meeting had constantly been thrown into confusion by the abysmal performance and complex route, replica of August 2009 meeting, which Mr. Alex Segbefia had all of a sudden adopted as elections approach.
Nominations for the elections ended as far back as May 2009, the reasons why the elections could not take place up till now, could only be explained by Mr. Alex Segbefia.
At the April 2009 meeting Mr. Segbefia announced that the National Security Agency in Ghana were to be used to vet candidates for various positions for the UK/Ireland Branch of the Party. This is irrespective of the fact that people in Ghana are tired of the use of the national security apparatus for civilian issues. Apart from this, did Mr. Segbefia consider who will bear the cost of involving officials of the security apparatus to do the said vetting? Was this directive coming from the National Executive of the Party or the sole decision of Mr. Segbefia? Equally, was he just throwing into the eyes of the members or this is part a grand design to cause confusion within the members?
At the meeting of 29th August 2009 which was originally scheduled to elect the officers, Mr. Segbefia announced that he had received a letter from the National Executives signed by the General Secretary that NDC National Executives will be attending the Labour Party’s congress in London and would like to use the opportunity to supervise the elections thus the elections of executives were postponed to September 26th 2009.
On the 26th of September the new date for the election, Mr Segbefia came up with all sorts of excuses as to why the elections should not come on. He shamelessly tried to paint a picture of the elections not taking place because members of the NDC National Executives who were to supervise the election could not obtain visas to the UK. When challenged that his excuse that Mr Kofi Attor, the International Director of the NDC, could not obtain a visa to the UK was trivial, he got so upset and enraged that he told the gathering that even the Sports Minister could not obtain a visa to travel to Egypt, what a plonker!
Mr. Segbefia, who until his recent conduct was highly admired and respected by branch members, has proven that he is brilliant but not intelligent! Throughout the meeting he sounded very incredible, not because of the words he spoke but his actions stood in sharp contrast to the man we have known. To those who are not members of the NDC UK/Ireland branch, Mr. Segbefia and his cronies had been trying to do everything to disqualify other candidates in support of his chosen candidate.
As members at the meeting continued to debate issues regarding the constant postponement of the elections, near fisticuffs broke out and the meeting was thrown into mêlée. While Mr. Segbefia was involved in heated arguments with other members of the party at the high table, others were involved in jostling, shoving and shouting. When normalcy resumed, Mr. Alex Segbefia announced that by the powers conferred on him as Chairman, (no such powers exist though) he was calling off the elections and walked out of the meeting to the shock of all members and observers in attendance. His conduct was so rude and disrespectful. In the light of this, he portrayed to members that he was hugely arrogant.
It is important that we should be able to discuss all barriers to credible and peaceful elections, but Mr. Segbefia’s conduct is a real dent to the efforts of breaking those barriers. Having tried to skew the election in favour of his chosen one and failed, I guess he is spending time to strategise on what action he will take next.
Having gone through this drama over the past months, the following observations have been made:
1. There seems to be some doubt as to whether rules on election are being skewed to favour some group of people. For example, it is said that only those who are embedded in the NDC should take part in elections; whatever that means only Mr. Segbefia can explain.
2. He stated that the National Executives of the NDC were planning to increase the qualifying period for nomination from the current two years to four years. Has there been any changes to the NDC constitution that allows the National Executives to make changes to the constitution without recourse to due process? This is in sharp contrast to article 45 of the party’s constitution which states among other things that only the National Congress may amend the constitution. This, it is believed, a lawyer of his calibre should have known!
Mr. Segbefia should have known by now that imposing candidates on the NDC is a recipe for failure. He seemed to have forgotten what happened when the party in 2000 imposed candidates on the electorates. Further, the UK/Ireland branch compared to any constituency in Ghana, is small and would not require more than two polling stations; members of this branch are not ignorant people who cannot decide on who they think could lead the branch. One therefore wonders why Mr. Segbefia thinks his preferred candidate is the most qualified to lead such that if he suspects things were not in favour of his candidate, he must come out with a ploy to frustrate members who travelled from different parts of the UK and Ireland to vote. He does not seem to be concerned with the cost of his action to party faithful. He rather seems happy to risk offending the members of the party and leaving behind a fragmented branch.
Mr. Segbefia has been one of the successful chairmen the branch has known and it is important he preserves this legacy. It is important he knows that this is not the time to score points, he rather needs to support the branch in achieving its objectives which had never been achieved in the UK/Ireland since 1992; instead of creating tension and showing gross disrespect to members of the branch. Mr. Segbefia should be seen seeking the success of the branch and ensuring that executives are elected to execute the programs of the branch.
Has Mr. Segbefia suddenly lost faith in democracy; free expression of the people and the power of the people? Or his sudden elevation clouded out every sense of humility? He should always remember this: “those whose nuts were cracked for them by benevolent spirits must learn to be humble”.
Mr. Segbefia, let us see you doing what you have made us believe you stand for over the years.
Long Live UK/Ireland Branch, Long Live NDC.
