A group calling itself the Victory 2020 National Democratic Congress (NDC) Youth Coalition is demanding that the Council of Elders of the party must take action against the 10 regional Chairmen of the party who visited former President John Dramani Mahama and requested he leads the party in 2020.

According to the group, the conduct of the Chairmen paints a bleak future of the party and could result in yet another painful defeat if the Council of Elders sit aloof and allow them to continue doing what was witnessed last Thursday, November 9, 2017.

The group in a petition, want the Jerry John Rawlings led Council of Elders to crack the whip in order to save the party from lawlessness, unmatched sycophancy and nauseating levels of greed which will endanger the chances of the party in the 2020 elections

In a statement signed by one Francis Anane, its Programmes Manager he described the conduct of the Chairmen as selfish and unprecedented attempt by the ten Regional Chairmen of the party, to unilaterally endorse the flagbearer candidature of former President John Dramani Mahama, ahead of the December 2018 presidential primaries.

Read full text of their petition below

COUNCIL OF ELDERS MUST ACT NOW, OR WE LOSE 2020

We the Members of VICTORY 2020 NDC YOUTH are calling on the Council of Elders of the Party, under the auspices of former President Jerry John Rawlings and Hon. Mahama Iddrisu, to immediately intervene in the affairs of the party, in order to save the party from lawlessness, unmatched sycophancy and nauseating levels of greed which will endanger the chances of the party in the 2020 elections.

Our urgent plea for action follows yesterday’s shocking, insensitive, selfish and unprecedented attempt by the ten Regional Chairmen of the party, to unilaterally endorse the flagbearer candidature of former President John Dramani Mahama, ahead of the December 2018 presidential primaries.

That solo act of these ten Regional Chairmen who double assignment members of the National Executive Council (NEC), constitutes a flagrant disrespect for the reorganisation road map announced by the same NEC that they represent in our Regions.

Their sycophantic and bootlicking effort to stampede every member of the party into doing their bidding, is a cancerous tissue which must be terminated swiftly, in order not to have it fester and eat up the whole body of the party. To watch on means the entire fabric of the party can snub the reorganisation time table and go bootlicking the former President, laying postrate and endorsing him, even as it will constitute another humiliating defeat at the polls, come 2020.

The swift public condemnation of the obviously induced shenanigans of the Regional Chairmen, is enough signal to the wise men of the party, that as a Council, you must rise up and do justice in order to sanitise the environment and position the party first.

We are hereby calling on the Council of Elders to summon the Functional and National Executives councils of the party to an emergency meeting to discuss the way forward of the party, following the show of disrespect for NEC, as the Regional Chairmen have amply stated in their action.

We are asking the party’s pot of wisdom, vested in the Council of Elders, to show gravitas this time, by demanding that the ten Regional Chairmen step aside, in order to ensure that the reorganisation process continues without their influences. We cannot have biased Regional Chairmen in charge of the reorganisation in our Regions.

This party cannot have a natural, fair and clean reorganisation process leading to the election of executives and a Presidential Candidate, if these ten Regional Executives are allowed to continue in office.

A breach of the processes must be met with proportional punishment of same, otherwise, we cannot pride ourselves as a congress and a democratic party founded on the principles of truth, justice and development.

The time to act is now.

Please, save the ship from being wrecked.

A stitch in time saves nine. Failure to act cannot be an option for the Council of Elders. To what use is the Council, if the party is now sold out into such lawlessness and lack of dignity?

We believe that it is for such a time as this that the framers of our party’s constitution established the Council of Elders.

Signed

Francis Anane