NDC-Atlanta kicks off the New Year with their first meeting with excitements and enthusiasm


NDC-Atlanta kicked off 2011 with their first meeting which was held on Saturday January 22, with excitements and enthusiasm gearing toward the upcoming general elections in 2012. The meeting was chaired by the Chairman of the Chapter, Dr. Bismark Sarfo. New members who attended the Chapter’s meeting for the first time were introduced to the general party membership. Among them were Mr. Isaac Amihere who was the former President of the Ghana Council of Georgia, and Mr. Mustapha Yankeh, a businessman. After outlining the agenda for the meeting by the Chairman, Mr. Isaac Amihere was given the floor to speak. He shared with members that he will be contesting for the Parliamentary seat for the Nzema constituency (where he comes from) on the ticket of NDC. He highlighted that there are significant natural resources present in the area and that he intends wants to leverage those resources to drive development in the region if he wins the seat. He indicated that President Nkrumah, who hails from the same ethnic group, inspired his political aspirations. Providing a brief history of the Nzema people’s engagement with the NDC, he pointed out that former President Rawlings’ effectiveness in building a road through the district, while also extending electricity to the area were key actions that encouraged the support of the Nzema people for NDC.

Subsequently, other party members raised several issues that have the potential to hurt the party in the 2012 elections if they are not address with the needed urgency. Notable among them is the speculation that Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings will be contesting for the flagbearship of the party. Members believe that it is high time the Council of Elders of the Party address this issue once and for all. Members were also of the opinion that, if the need be, the party should go for early congress to elect our flagbearer for us to put these speculations and unwanted agitations behind us and focus on the 2012 general elections.

Mr. Mustapha Yankeh, who has returned from a recent trip to Ghana, highlighted NDCs successes at the district assembly elections, but the Chairman shared his concerns about the elections due to its low participation rate which he believes might make members to be complacent and not work hard. Mr. Sammy Osei, the former NDC parliamentary candidate for Abuakwa South was of the view that, the party leadership must do well and attend to the concerns of the footsoldiers, since he knew how some of them sacrificed their time, energy and even the little resources that they have to support the party during the 2008 elections when he was campaigning. Members agreed that this issue must be addressed if the party wants to retain power in 2012. Mr. Richard Aikins indicated that, there is the need to delineate party activities from government, so that government appointees will have ample time to solve the problems of the country. Mrs. Lydia Petit and other members agreed, but intimated that this also does not warrant arrogance and lack of appreciation from government appointees toward the footsoldiers, which they believe is the situation at the moment.



Mr. Felix Bansah and others indicated that, the leadership style of President Mills is different so we all must endeavor to accept and appreciate how the President is handling the numerous problems affecting Ghana.

Party members lamented the lack of engagement from officials in Ghana with those who are in the Diaspora. Several in attendance brought up development ideas that they believed could be tools for Ghana’s further growth, but expressed their concern that the dynamic of them being in the Diaspora hindered the formation of productive relationships with those in Ghana. As a move towards developing stronger relationships, the Chairman stressed that the constitutional review which is on-going should be a priority for everybody in the Diaspora, and that dual citizenship should be one of the issues that the constitutional review committee must examine critically. Several in attendance agreed that this would be a helpful next step in encouraging engagement with Ghanaians in the Diaspora, and that the country will tend to benefit from the enormous human resource capital that those in the Diaspora possess.

NDC-Atlanta will be holding regular meetings over the course of the year and has launched an initiative to expand its online presence to increase party membership, and to reach out to Ghanaians in Georgia. The Chapter has received membership forms from the Party’s headquarters in Accra and is encouraging NDC sympathizers to contact Mr. Samuel Asinor (Organizing Secretary) at pallaceahinfie@yahoo.com or Mr. George Ayeh (Deputy Organizing Secretary) at ga_yeh@hotmail.com to get a form and join the NDC fraternity.