A national chairman hopeful of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Samuel Yaw Adusei, has asked delegates of the party to reject the current national chairman, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, and general secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, who are both vying for the party's chairmanship position.
According to him, the two, in their capacities as national officers, have seen the NDC lose two consecutive elections, including one that sent the NDC into opposition, and will cause the party another defeat if any of them is given the chairmanship nod.
"I am saying that the NPP is our main contender; take it or leave it. They are the only party to ever win power in a first-round election from the opposition in 2016 under this Fourth Republic. In President Kufuor's time, we voted in two rounds, and in the time of Atta Mills, we did three rounds. In 2016, NPP broke that jinx.
"In 2016, we had 44% of the total votes, and we even had challenges with the collation of our votes; we could not do it. At that time, Asiedu Nketiah was our general secretary and doubled as the chairman of our campaign. Ofosu-Ampofo was then our first vice chairman, and I led his campaign to be the first vice chair of the party. He also was the director of elections, and we had issues collating our results," he told
"Then came 2020, where he became national chairman and Asiedu Nketiah remained general secretary. Mind you, NDC in 2016 was the first party to go into an election after 8 years in power with a sitting president as our candidate," he told the host of Top FM's Final Point programme, Kwabena Owusu Agyemang, during an interview.
"In 2020, one was chairman and the other was general secretary, but we lost. We only increased our votes from 44% to 47%, and that is what Ofosu-Ampofo is now boasting about. But we want power; If you move from 44% to 47% without gaining power, do you expect us to support you again? You would have failed if it were to be an examination, and we would stay in opposition for a third time if that is the logic," he added.
Johnson Asiedu Nketiah and Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo are tipped as the leading contenders in the NDC's upcoming chairmanship race.
However, Samuel Yaw Adusei is confident of beating the two in the race and achieving his ultimate aim of returning the NDC to power.
The NDC's national executive election is slated for Saturday, December 17, 2022, at the Accra Sports Stadium.
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