NDC supporters urged not to be discouraged

Mr. Japheth Baidoo, Western Regional Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has urged party supporters and sympathisers not to be deterred by the electoral defeat, but work extra hard to make the party attractive.

He noted that the results of the 2016 polls were not anticipated and some NDC followers had not recovered from the electoral defeat. Mr Baidoo said this in Sekondi on Monday at a press conference to respond to claims by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) regional executives that there were anomalies in the results announced by the Electoral Commission from five constituencies in the region.

He alleged that the NPP regional executives were making those claims just to attract the attention of the President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo, in order for him to acknowledge their efforts and probably appoint them into his government.

It would be recalled that the Regional Secretary of the NPP, Mr Charles Bissue, recently told the media that the party would challenge the parliamentary results in five constituencies in court because the results declared by the EC did not tally with theirs.

They include the results from Aowin, Wassa Amenfi Central, Ellembelle, Suaman and Wassa East constituencies.

He said although the NDC-administration under President John Dramani Mahama performed creditably to deserve another term, the party had accepted the results in good faith and would mobilise its members to re-capture political power in 2020.

He entreated the rank and file of the party to refrain from the blame-game and misguided comments that could divide its front, saying, “You should be cautious with the kind of comments you make in the media so that it does not create rancour in the party”.

Mr Baidoo, who was also in-charge of the party’s operations for the 2016 elections, took responsibility for the party’s defeat in the region.

The NDC lost grounds in the parliamentary election which saw its parliamentary seats reduced from 18 to10 while the NPP’s seat increased from eight to 16.

When asked about an alleged misappropriation of election funds by the party’s campaign team, he said the team utilised the resources allocated to it judiciously and, therefore, dismissed claims that the grassroots supporters of the party did not get their fair share of the resources.