General News of Wednesday, 31 October 2007

Source: Ghanaian Chronicle

Reformed Patriotic Democrats Will Go Solo

THE INTERIM National Chairman of the newly formed Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD), Mr. Kwabena Adjei, alias Bambata, has declared that the RPD will go solo to get the mandate of the electorate and that it will not enter into any electoral alliance with any political party.

"There will be no alliance with the NPP, neither will we go along with the NDC, the CPP nor any other political party, existing or yet to be formed," Bambata told The Chronicle in an interview.

According to him, since the RPD was going to determine the outcome of the 2008 elections, there was no way the new party would align itself with other parties. "We have the support of the youth from all the parties, including the NPP and NDC," he said.

He disclosed that sympathizers of Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah who lost the flagbearership race of the NDC last year had opted for the RPD.

Bambata debunked claims that the party was being funded by the NDC. He, however, hinted that some NPP constituency chairmen across the country had declared their support for the RPD and that at the appropriate time they would openly show up.

The strategy of the RPD, he hinted is to split votes and force the election into a second round by which time it could enter into a serious pact with any serious political party.

The Interim Chairman reiterated the commitment of the party, which was said to be youth-centred, to concerns of the Ghanaian youth, saying the RPD would work for all who made huge sacrifices for the growth of their party but had been marginalised by their various political parties.

Bambata indicated that he was not interested in the chairmanship of the party, neither was he particular about the flagbearership. "That is for congress to decide in February," he said.

Meanwhile, the RPD has intensified its membership drive following the acquisition of a provisional certificate from the Electoral Commission (EC).

Representatives of RPD would address a forum organised by the Economic Students Association of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on October 31, 2007. The topic would be: "Youth in Politics for Development of Ghana."

In a related development, the leadership of the RPD has denounced orchestrated attempts to discredit the new party by linking it to NDC and certain prominent personalities.

Reacting to a Graphic publication of yesterday to the effect that Mr. George Ayisi-Boateng was linked to the RPD, Bambata said it was very strange that the NPP was desperately adopting a strategy to discredit certain personalities and kill their initiatives as a member of a campaign team of the Vice President.

"RPD has nothing to do with Ayisi-Boateng," he said in defence of an earlier claim by Ayisi-Boateng that he had not been in contact with the party or any member of the RPD.