The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) must endeavour to bring back into its fold, members who have defected to other parties or relinquished their membership over disagreements, Majority Leader Alban Bagbin has urged.

Speaking at the party’s 24th anniversary ceremony in Accra, attended by President John Mahama and former President Jerry John Rawlings, among a raft of party stalwarts, the Nadowli-Kaleo MP said there was the need for wounds to be mended within the NDC so it can present a united front into the forthcoming November polls.

“We had challenges, no doubt about that. This [NDC] is a living organism, some of us have gone astray, we are the first to admit that. Some might have done that because of lack of knowledge, some might have done that because of the weakness of humanity, but please let’s bring everybody back on board, let’s continue to bond together,” he urged.

In his view, “There is no alternative to NDC. What is the alternative to peace? Violence! What is the alternative to democracy? Tyranny, dictatorship! And I can assure you that in spite of our imperfections, we are still the best in this country and on this continent. I want to once again assure you of the unalloyed commitment and support of your members of parliament”.

One prominent former member of the NDC who left to form her own party is former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, wife of Mr Rawlings. She ditched the NDC in the lead-up to the 2012 general elections to form the National Democratic Party (NDP), of which she became flagbearer in 2012 but could not meet all the necessary requirements of the Electoral Commission, thus her disqualification from the race. Mrs Rawlings was recently elected for the second time, as the flagbearer of the NDC ahead of the 2016 polls.

There is currently no love lost between her and the NDC. She has become one of the governing party’s harshest critics. She recently described the Mahama administration as the epitome of corruption.

Without making specific reference to anyone, Mr Bagbin told the gathering that the NDC was incomparable, thus, the need for all former members to return to their roots of origin.

Mr Bagbin also heaped praises on former Rawlings, saying: “You live in our hearts and minds”, he said, adding: “…What is in our hearts, what we think about you, even if we are not able to translate it to make you more comfortable, or I think I should say a bit comfortable, you live day in and day out in our hearts and minds”.

“Without you, we don’t know where we would have been. Without you, we don’t know how Ghana would have been. We know it is through your blood, it is through your brow and it is through your brains that we’ve got this far and Your Excellency Jerry John Rawlings, you were prophetic in a number of things when you stated that the 1981 coup was the last coup of this country, no coup will survive again in this country, Your Excellency, you were prophetic when you stated that what you were establishing was provisional and that you were preparing the country into a permanent system. The permanency has come, it’s not only the democratic system but the party that you have established, the NDC, it has come to stay and stay forever."