National Democratic Congress (NDC) Chairman for Eastern Region, Bismarck Tawiah Boateng has chided his party bigwigs accusing former President John Mahama for the defeat the NDC suffered in the 2016 elections.

According to him, nobody in NDC has any right to blame the defeat of the party in the December 2016 elections on former President Mahama as it was collective responsibility of every party executive to ensure victory and not the former President alone.

Speaking on the move by some party faithfuls to write off former President Mahama in the 2020 elections, Tawiah Boateng on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show insisted the former President must not be blamed alone since he worked with Vice President, Chief of Staff, Ministers and other appointees and also party executives.

“Why are we pointing accusing finger to some people or someone over our defeat in the 2016 elections?...and so if someone tells me that former President Mahama caused the defeat of NDC in the 2016 elections, I ask myself, ‘how did he cause our defeat in the elections’? Ghanaians voted for him in 2012 and he picked his Running Mate who is the Vice President. He again appointed ministers, chief of staff and the party has a General Secretary, National Chairman and Regional Executives and so if all of us are not good, then why do we accuse former President Mahama alone?” he wondered.

He was of the view that President Mahama will only be excused if he announces his unwillingness to contest elections again; thus, so long as the late President Atta Mills made three attempts before claiming victory for the NDC after President Rawlings handed over the mantle to him, some of them will always insist Mahama leads the fight again till victory is achieved.

“Who has ever divorced his wife simply because the baby died during childbirth? No way! The wife is given another chance for her to give birth through encouragement and support from the husband. Look, the person who always fetches water from the river, breaks the water pot”, he posited.

He maintained that “when the late Atta Mills was our flag-bearer, we lost the elections but our father did not give up; he fought till he won the power back for the party. He said was he not going to be responsible for the defeat of the party after Rawlings handed over power to him”.

“Atta Mills is the only President who went through voting three times in an election before becoming the President and gave us power again in 2008; he worked till God called him home. So why should it be that John Mahama cannot be given the same chance after the party has lost power in the 2016 elections? Since he didn’t finish his work, we should allow him to lead the fight t reclaim victory for the party; we must help him...yes, I fully support his come back to lead the NDC in the 2020 election; I am part of those who want him to lead the party in the 2020 elections", he argued.

He however argued that it is out of place to blame former President Mahama for the reduction of NDC Parliamentary seats in the Central Region from 16 to only 4 seats; likewise will it not be proper to blame Hon Bagbin for the 6 seats the NDC now has in the Upper West region instead of the 11, prior to the 2016 elections.

"Can one fault the former President, Asiedu Nketia or the former First Lady Lordina Mahama for the number of seats the NDC lost in the Brong Ahafo region? No! We now have only 9 seats and NPP took 20 seats in the region.

“It is rather time for us to sit back in opposition to re-strategise for the 2020 elections and stop the blame game...anybody can contest because we are democratic party but I fully support that former President Mahama leads the party in 2020 elections”, he insisted.