These are troubling times for the NDC, which for want of the qualities of a genuine political party is gradually finding it impossible to stand cohesively, two years into its new status as an opposition political grouping.

The sixth electoral defeat it registered last week has further dampened the spirits of those who thought some salvage work could be done even if Founder Jerry John Rawlings continues to breath down the necks of party supporters who favour a change in the status quo.

There was something dismal about the countenance of Prof Evans Atta Mills when it finally dawned on him that his party had lost the latest by-election.

As at the time of filing this report he had not reacted to the humiliation his party suffered in Amenfi West even without the Vice-President going on a campaign mission to the area.

The Prof's situation was not helped by the revelation last week that his mentor is rehearsing plans to oust him. The usurpation of the planned "march for survival" by Rawlings is a manifestation of his loss of confidence in 'his anointed man' who had been the recipient of his copious accolades in halcyon days fast disappearing.

The jubilation over the Amenfi by-election itself was not limited to only NPP supporters. Ironically some NDC( Botchwey ) sympathizers took part in the joyous moment when the final results were announced. In a discreet chat with the ADM they said " if he thinks he alone can move the party forward there we are. A sixth defeat in a row".

The latest electoral defeat the ADM has learnt, has emboldened some vacillating NDC supporters to resolve to take the final move. In Nima some thirty or so die-hard NDC supporters are said to be preparing to leave the party for good.

A startling development, which the ADM unearthed in the aftermath of the Amenfi West drubbing, was the refusal by the usually loquacious National Chairman of the party Dr. Obed Asamoah to talk to the press.

Obed has actually not spoken to the press again since his celebrated outburst over the anomalies within the NDC which he alleged were responsible for the downturn of the party's fortunes in recent times.

When the ADM called him on his residential telephone number on Friday afternoon he was rather harsh in his response: " I am not giving any interview. Have a nice day."

There could be several interpretations to this new turn in the behavior of the worried chairman. He could be planning to come out with a new set of strategies to take the sinking party out of the woods. In this case the Founder's hold over the party could be coming to an end.

At the National Headquarters of the party, some of the morose and whingeing staff were more concerned about their financial predicament as opposed to the latest electoral defeat which they anyway blamed on the intransigence of the "oldman" who they say is refusing to let go his dictatorial hold on the political grouping.

The headquarters is now a dismembered entity because its functions have now been taken over by three persons each one operating his own NDC at home or in an office somewhere in the city. The Prof has his own staff operating outside the recognized NDC headquarters, Obed Asamoah too has taken a chunk away as is the Founder who is doing his own thing at his Ridge residence where he holds his 'amorphous' meetings and press conferences.