Cracks in NDC

Deep cracks have developed in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) as a pressure youth group has taken the leadership of the party to the cleaners for certain utterances that have brought about sharp divisions in the party.

The group, Young Democrats, is accusing the National Chairman of the party, Dr Kwabena Adjei, and another party stalwart, Fiifi Kwetey, who is a Minister of State in charge of Financial and Allied Institutions, of calling for unity government prior to the Supreme Court verdict.

In a press statement, Secretary to the group, Justice Dansu Norvor said Dr. Adjei’s suggestion of a unity government after the Supreme Court’s ruling when he graced the 21st anniversary celebrations of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) smack of hypocrisy and selfishness.

He said that the chairman of the NDC ought not to have made such self-exposing statement when he had supervised the divide and rule tactics in the NDC and sowed seeds of vindictiveness and hatred in his own party.

According to the Young Democrats, for the eight years that Dr Adjei has been the chairman of the NDC, his only legacy has been discrimination and marginalization of party people who have been expressing discerning and dissenting views in the party, and now it seemed he had extended this discrimination to party stalwarts like Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, former organizer of the party; Alhaji Iddrisu Mahama, a founding member of the party; Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, another founding member of the party; Victor Smith, former aide to the founder of the party; Mike Hammah, a former minister; Joshua Alabi, a former minister; Martin Amidu, founding member; Dr Kwame Ampofo, a former MP and Zita Okaikoi, a former minister.

“If as a chairman of the biggest political grouping in the country, Dr Kwabena Adjei could not exert his authority to bring sanity when the NDC gets fragmented with each passing day, then how is he going to tolerate the NPP’s Sir John, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Kennedy Agyapong, Sammy Awuku and co who are more uncompromising and fanatical in their views if a coalition government was put in place after the Supreme Court’s verdict?”

Justice Norvor asked whether by their suggestions for unity government, Dr Adjei and Fiifi Kwetey were admitting that the NDC, as a party, had made a mistake by marginalizing these ‘powerful’ party stalwarts who spoke against self-centred policies and practices of those at the helm of affairs of the party, or the party was admitting defeat in the election petition.

The Young Democrats noted that the party leadership unjustifiably vilified supporters of Dr Spio-Garbrah when he contested against Prof Atta Mills in the NDC presidential primary in 2006 and in the same way supporters of the former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, were vilified and castigated when she also contested the sitting president, Prof Atta Mills in the 2011 presidential primary of the party at Sunyani.

The Young Democrats said Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, after the primary, was also very much vilified to the extent that she had to leave the party to found her own party, National Democratic Party (NDC).

There is a culture of undue chastisement and vilification against those who run against incumbents within the party and so capable and competent stalwarts who are keen to take the NDC to higher heights become so worried to even declare their intentions to run.

According to the Young Democrats’ secretary, all those people who have been sidelined by the leadership of the party are some of the best human resources in the country and therefore their sidelining is very detrimental to the party.

The group has therefore asked Dr Kwabena Adjei to, as a matter of urgency, resign his position honourably, since by his utterances, he had brought disgrace to the party.