... NDC FLAG BEARER CONGRESS
North America Coordinating Council of the NDC held a mammoth Congress in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday December 2, 2006 at the Holiday Inn, Atlanta South, and elected delegates to the December 21, 2006 NDC Flag Bearer Congress. Delegates elected are: Mr. Simon Adzraku, 1st Vice Chairman of NACC-NDC, Mr. Ebby Koney, Immediate past Chairman of NACC-NDC and current General Advocate, Mr. Alfred Vanderpuije, Chairman of South Carolina, Mr Mike Obuobi, Chairman of Washington Metro area, Dr. George Lamptey, one-time Chairman of NACC-NDC.

The National Chairman, Dr Kwabena Adjei and the National Propaganda Secretary, Mr. Fiifi Kweitey flew in from Ghana to attend the Congress. NDC members came from all corners of North America to congregate with the august National Officers from Ghana. NACC-NDC Chapters represented were: Toronto , Denver , Washington DC , Maryland, New Jersey , Alabama , Boston , Chicago , New York , South Carolina and Atlanta , the host Chapter. New Chapters in formation in Pennsylvania, Houston, Edmonton, North Carolina, Nebraska and Virginia were acknowledged. A larger than expected NDC folks converged at the Congress, necessitating the change of assigned Hall. The Hotel Staff efficiently provided additional logistics, quickly and efficiently decorating the new larger Banquet Hall with Ghana and NDC flags. The singing of both Ghana and the NDC Anthem, super charged the party faithful. Mr. Cobby Boahene, NACC-NDC Chairman, did the opening ceremony and introduced Dr Kwabena Adjei and Mr. Fiifi Kweitey and the room went wild with prolonged cheers. After various reports from the Chapters were presented and routine agenda items were disposed off, the NACC-NDC Chairman invited Mr. Fiifi Kweitey to address the teeming members.

Mr Fiifi Kweitey received standing ovation as he outlined steps NDC would adopt to ensure that past rigging methods that have been employed to deny NDC her just victory in the recent past General Election would not be repeated. Mr. Fiifi Kweitey declared: “Our vigilance with the monitoring, counting and proper recordation of votes will be underscored by diligent sensitization and in-depth education of NDC Election Monitors on relevant election procedure.” On the candidates campaigning for the flag bearer ship, the astute propaganda secretary said, each of them have exhibited strong presidential qualities that place them in good standing to perform the duties of the presidency better than any Candidate who will oppose any of them on the national stage. He further said that the NDC delegates have had opportunity to weigh the candidates and interacted with each of them and therefore the best of the lot will emerge victorious in an incidence-free election.

The Keynote Speaker was Dr Kwabena Adjei, NDC National Chairman who electrified his audience over with his powerful sincere delivery, obviously from conviction in the words he spoke. He stressed that under his tenure, he is committed to solving NDC’s problems by simply letting “organization work” for the good of all. He stated that any political group that survive by depending on only 2 or 3 wealthy individuals for funding is bound to fail. The NDC Chairman boomed “there can be no wealthy party in Ghana’s HIPC nation, except the known “Corrupt Castle Kickback Nefarious anti-poor People Party”. He called for a new approach to funding of political parties in Ghana. He unveiled a brochure titled NDC “Development Fund” in which steps have been outlined for every member of NDC to contribute their widow’s mite to enable the grassroots take control over their destiny in the party by mobilizing to build a better NDC for themselves. The NDC Chairman said Membership Dues is to be differentiated from Voluntary Donations. He explained that a member may choose to become a Gold, Silver or Regular Member, on payment of graduated scheduled amounts.. In order to be clear on this issue, the Chairman outlined four steps in the Voluntary Contributions scheme. First, one is to complete an NDC Membership Registration Form. Second, Personal Identification Number (PIN) will be issued. Third, Constituency Collectors will receive payments before, the fourth step, which will be the issuance of “NDC DevFund Card”. He stated that NDC would build ultramodern Office Complex for NDC National Secretariat.

The National Chairman reached the apogee in his address with a convincingly exposition of the path towards NDC Victory in 2008. The hall exploded with excited buzzing when Dr Adjei announced that the NPP knows ALMOST EVERY Ghanaian is saying that ‘THE GROUND IS FERTILE’ for NDC to win back power, come December 2008. He quickly brought back reality check by stating WHAT EVERY NDC member should do for Victory to be achieved, since the worst scenario is for NDC members to just ‘feel good’ by the ‘fertile ground’ thing without taking necessary steps for actualization of victory. So, Dr Adjei asked NDC members to be: committed active card-bearing members; pay monthly membership dues regularly; make donations in cash or kind to the NDC; convince at least one potential voter a week to register as an NDC member; participate actively in NDC activities at the Branch, Constituency or Region; avoid making monetary and other demands on NDC executives, MPs, Parliamentary Candidates to forestall corrupt practices; die just a little for the NDC-do as much voluntary fieldwork; become aware of anti-NDC Media and NPP’s serial callers who are paid to misinform, deceive, create confusion in the NDC and divert attention from NPP’s incompetence, corrupt and criminal acts; speak up boldly, fearlessly but objectively to defend NDC, its leaders.

The NACC-NDC Chairman Mr. Cobby Boahene brought the meeting to a close at 11.15 pm, amidst groaning from members who wanted to keep it going through the night due to the excitement and excellence of inputs from the National Executives from Ghana.

Pastor John Lachana of the Amazing Grace Center bestowed blessings on the NDC and awarded plaques and special Bibles to Dr. Kwabena Adjei and Mr. Fiifi Kweitey on Sunday, December 3, 2006 when the NDC worshipped with his congregation.

NACC-NDC would like to acknowledge the hard work and first class hospitality of the Atlanta Chapter. Indeed, Mr. and Mrs. Tony Amuzu, together with the able Atlanta executives, members and sympathizers, including Kofi and Baaba Roberts, Mrs. Lydia Quaye-Petit, Mr. Bismarck Boadu, Mr. Daniel, Mr. Franklyn Owusu-Ansah, Lady Awo and Mrs. Gladys Tamakloe put up a splendid reception for the guests from out of town