Asiedu Nketia: NDC was founded on “divide and rule” tactics

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has said the party was founded on a “divide and rule tactics” hence his desire to chart a new course.

According to him, the party’s first constitution which provided room for Co-chairmanship created bitterness among the executives as the President or leader at the time, had the option to decide which of the chairmen to deal with.

“We have tried to change how things are done in the party. We realised that the party was initially created on a divide and rule strategy,” he told Adom FM, Thursday.

“It was strange that a party that had just been formed will have co-chairmen, something which is never done in political parties. It created the opportunity for the president at the time to decide which among the chairmen is his favourite and that was bad,” the former MP added.

He is therefore urging delegates of the party not to vote for candidates who, he believes, are bent on reverting to old ways of doing things in the upcoming national executive elections.

“I am cautioning the delegates not to bring any of those people to the executive body. We need people who will be loyal to the cause of the party even if they are not elected,” he noted.

The NDC was formed ahead of the 1992 elections and in 1996 returned Jerry John Rawlings to power as a democratically elected president of the country. Rawlings' second term ended in 2001.

The party lost the presidency in the 2000 election, and it was not until the 2008 election that they regained it with candidate John Atta Mills (late).