Obed Defends Himself

The National Chairman of the main opposition National Democratic Congress- NDC, Dr Obed Yao Asamoah has denied media reports that he was the cause of the defeat of the party's 2004 presidential candidate, Professor John Evans Atta Mills.

Dr Asamoah told the Daily Dispatch, a private daily newspaper that his statement was not targeted at the person of Professor Mills.

In a very firm tone, Dr Asamoah said " What I said was that no matter the level of organization the party undertakes, we will not win the 2008 elections if we do not have a flag bearer who will win the elections." "In the run-up to the 200 general elections, I was not the chairman of the party and I did not oppose to his choice as the flag bearer, yet he lost," he said.

Dr Asamoah admitted that he opposed Prof Mill's candidature for the 2004 general elections but explained that he did not ask the people of the Western and Central regions not to vote for him.

According to the party chairman the choice of the 2008 flag bearer is very important because floating voters are likely to vote for a party or candidate likely to win. He said such a candidate must inspire not only his hard-core supporters but also the floating voters.

Dr Asamoah was blunt that " If the NDC lost the 2008 elections, the party was likely to break up". He urged both party functionaries and sympathizers of the party not to be complacent but work harder to wrestle power from the NPP.

" I am sure the NPP is also working very hard to stay in power because they would not want to suffer the consequences of failure" he said. Pressed to give some examples of the consequences of failure, the NDC chairman was diplomatic; "some of our members mount platforms and issue all sorts of threats if we (the NDC) win. We are all aware of the consequences of failing to win power."