Ex-presidential staffer Stan Dogbe is not to blame for the defeat of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and President John Mahama in the December 2016 polls, Ningo Prampram MP Samuel Nartey George has said.

In March this year, the NDC’s Member of Parliament for Yunyoo in the Northern Region, Joseph Bipoba Naabu, blamed Mr Dogbe and others he labelled as “small boys” for the NDC’s defeat. According to Mr Naabu, Mr Mahama “allowed those working around him like Omane Boamah, Felix Ofosu Kwakye, Baba Jamal and other presidential staffers like Stan Dogbe to influence him. These small boys who have not even rented a room by themselves, have not been able to buy a car, had this opportunity and they were just talking carelessly, insulting people and he was listening to them. Could you believe that someone like Bagbin went to him [Mahama] to meet him and people like Stan Dogbe gave instructions that he cannot see him?”

Speaking on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Monday, 10 July, however, Mr Nartey George told host Moro Awudu: “If the suggestion is that Stan [Dogbe] is the reason for the defeat, I would categorically debunk that allegation. And let me put on record I’ve worked with Stan Dogbe and I think that Stan Dogbe is one of the arguably hardest workers you can ever find. I mean Stan is a workhorse; his professional ethos [is] top-notch and world-class, you can’t take that away from him.”

In Mr Nartey George’s estimation, Stan Dogbe is a perfectionist who pushes himself as well as the people around him to achieve excellence, a situation that makes people see him differently.

“…When you see people who strive for perfection, at times they come off as being a little high-handed, a little as having their noses up in the air. I mean there is a certain standard of excellence that they have set for themselves, a certain benchmark, and if you want to lower the bar, they will not tolerate it

“… For me, on a professional level, I would rate Stan Dogbe any day, anytime [as] highly world-class. I mean when it comes to social issues, like I said we are all not angels. … You need to understand who the person is, you need to understand the pressure that he also had to work under, and, so, for me when people want to judge people on just their weaknesses I say that you are not being fair to them, they are human beings, every human being has his strengths and weaknesses, judge them on a fair basis of the collective: the aggregate of their strengths and weaknesses. If I put Stan on that scale, his successes or his strengths outweigh his weaknesses,” Mr Nartey George added.

It is recalled that a few months ago, former President Mahama cautioned members of the party to stop criticising the young people he appointed into his administration for the party’s defeat.

“Some say the young people [are to blame]; just say: ‘I don’t like the people’ and not that they are young,” Mr Mahama said at a meeting with his former appointees on March 28.

Mr Mahama said at the time that he could not understand why people say “young men surrounding the president [are the cause]”.

Using himself as an example, he said he became a Deputy Minister to Ekwow Spio Garbrah at age 39, adding that even though he and his other colleagues were young at the time, “we served and served properly”.

He continued: “I’m sure Spio was in his forties at the time; you can’t say he was a small boy.

“In the revolutionary period, all those surrounding Rawlings were in their twenties and thirties… It is not about age, our party has always given opportunities to young people and that is what we are, and so if we lose we should not blame the young people. The demographics of Ghana is shifting in favour of young people, with [persons] 35 years and below forming about 60 per cent of our population. So when you want appointees, where are you going to get them from? And you need those people to gain experience to become what you consider as older and experienced people.”

He charged party members to “stop chasing the wind and stand together” and ensure “reorganisation” for the future.