NDC flagbearership: I support Alabi – Richard Quashigah

Member of Parliament (MP) for Keta, Richard Quashigah, has declared his support for National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer hopeful Professor Joshua Alabi.

According to Mr Quarshigah, he believes “strongly that in this era we need somebody who can adopt a bottom up approach. I find that in Professor Joshua Alabi”.

He said the former University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) Rector has a strong connection with the grassroots of the opposition NDC party adding “I find that in him as a result of his track record, so I support Joshua Alabi”.

Mr Quarshigah was speaking in an interview with Citi FM on Tuesday, 31 July 2018.

He said the party flagbearer aspirants must look at how they can ensure that they send the campaign to the grassroots level which mainly the party branches and the constituencies.

He was reacting to reports that 94 Minority MPs have endorsed Mr Mahama and shunned Prof Alabi even before the party holds its internal elections.

Builsa South MP, Dr Clement Apaak, is reported to have said on Asempa FM on Tuesday, 31 July that out of 106 NDC MPs, 94 have endorsed Mr Mahama as their preferred candidate for the flag bearer slot.

It has been suggested that the MPs have even formed a group called MPS4JM (Members of Parliament for John Mahama) with the full support of their constituents.

But Professor Alabi’s camp has said the winner of the contest for the flag bearer slot of the NDC will be determined by the grassroots of the party.

“…We have not lost sight of the fact that the next flag bearer election, as it stands now, will largely be decided by the grassroots of our great party – the branch and constituency executives who will also determine the fate of MPs in their next parliamentary primaries,” Israel Venunye, a member of the campaign team of the Professor Alabi, said in a press statement.

Mr Venunye said the “development does not come to us as a surprise, especially when one considers the fact that most of these MPs were hitherto appointees in the last NDC government, with quite a number of them retiring from parliament after 2020. We have always anticipated such a natural occurrence in the party”.

He stressed that: “The NDC has presence in all 275 constituencies in Ghana, with many of the supporters having fully embraced Professor Joshua Alabi's cardinal message of putting the grassroots at the centre of governance, thereby bridging the yawning gap between the party and government”.

For him, “The soul and strength of the great NDC party is vested in the branch and constituency executives who wield the real power and we shall continue to touch base with them”.

He said in line with “the Professor Joshua Alabi Team's philosophy, a strong NDC depends on stronger branches and constituencies; and we wish to assure the rank and file of the party, supporters and well-wishers of our resolve to entrench grassroots recognition and participation in the decision making process of our party as opposed to the top-to-bottom approach”.