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Opinions of Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Columnist: Andoh, Isaac Kyei

If NPP still have faith in Ishmael Ashitey….

…then Ade Coker is a must for NDC

When the New Patriotic Party lost the 2012 elections and notably failed to improve on their 2008 results in the Greater Accra Region as has always been the case of opposition party’s in the Fourth Republic, one would have thought that the NPP was going to bring another person who could contribute more to their chances in 2016.

Delegates however had another idea altogether and therefore ended up voting massively for the incumbent- Ishmael Asyitey.

This should send a note of caution to the NDC Delegates who are gearing up for their own Congress later this year.

For the NPP, they realized that experience still remained the most important weapon for winning election, hence the re-election of Mr. Ishmael Ashitey.

As expected, they would come out all guns blazing hoping for the opportunity to win the Region which thanks to Ade Coker and his team, they have had to surrender to the NDC on two consecutive occasions.

Having done their elections almost a year ahead of the NDC, it is very important that the ruling party matches them with equally tried, tested and proven caliber of people to ensure that Ishmael Ashitey and his men remain second best.

Fortunately, Mr. Ade Coker, the man who has ensure that the Greater Accra Region continues to elude the NPP would be available for re-election and the NDC Delegates have no other choice than to go with people who have done it before.

As the old adage goes, “we do not change a winning”, and even where the NPP have recoined it to be “we give a losing team a second chance”, proven track record on winning can give way for nothing in an election as crucial as the 2016 election.

It said that the back of every ruling party is always against the wall in elections and this year’s elections will not be any exception.

It must however be noted that this crop of leaders in the Greater Accra Branch of the Party won the region under the most difficult circumstances in the 2012 elections.

As a Ghanaian, I must admit that the NDC winning the 2012 election was a tremendous achievement which was unfortunately over shadowed by the New Patriotic Party’s decision to challenge the results at the Supreme Court.

The untimely death of President Mills, the fracas between the Rawlingses and the NDC government of the day and the eventual formation of the National Democratic Party, rumored to be breakaway members of the NDC placed the party in an unfortunate condition that only a fraction of people can go ahead and get a result notwithstanding.

As known to us all, the NDC won, but the most intriguing result that unfortunately little emphasis has been placed on was the party’s improvement on the result of the Greater Accra Region.

This was the very first time a government in power had actually improved on their results in the region in the history of the Forth Republic.

Such feats are always down to leaders. The Greater Accra Regional Branch of the NDC is blessed with experienced and composed group of people ably led by Mr. Ade Coker.

If the NPP believe that Mr. Ishmael Ashitey has gathered enough experience from losing; NDC has a more capable person in Ade Coker who has even a better experience in the department of winning.

Every aspirant can wait and must actually wait because the 2016 elections can never be trusted in the hands of first timers.