...THE FATE OF ITS MILLION DELEGATES FOR THE SAKE OF THOUSAND BIG MEN AND WOMEN!!!!!

At its recent Executive Committee Meeting, the NDC announced a timetable for the election of a flag bearer for the 2012 general election. It has been announced in the media that the dates on of the Congress in Sunyani where the election would take place are July 8, 9 and 10. It is for this purpose that we, FRIENDS OF SPIO GARBRAH from NORTHERN region, wish to bring out certain issues that need to be adequately addressed by the party before the proposed date for the election so as to guarantee a truly democratic, well-informed and free and fair election. It is our well considered position that if these issues are not properly and comprehensively disposed of before a congress is held, the party risks facing a grave disaster. The issues are hereunder explained.

Firstly, as a party that boasts of an overwhelmingly large constituency of foot soldiers and supporters as its members, the NDC ought to adopt a decision-taking model that involves the participation of as nearly as all the members of the party especially the foot soldiers since modern democratic reality points to a paradigm shift in the way in which political parties make decisions. The new trend which obtains in UK, Europe and the United States and which was recently followed by the NPP is that, as far as practicable, a political party should involve as many of its members as possible in making critical decisions, such as electing of a party leader. It is in the light of this that we wish to call on the leadership of the party to expand the Electoral College that is eligible to participate in the election of the flag bearer. Just as the NPP did in its case, the NDC should allow polling station agents and other members of the party who are currently ineligible to take part in the process to participate in the election. This would help galvanize the foot soldiers that are at the moment, dispirited and compel candidates to get closer to the electorate. If the NDC leadership refuses to do this, they must understand that the Party will lose face with the general Ghanaian voter, as being afraid of real democracy. The winner of an NDC Congress with about 2,500 delegates will not seem as legitimate as the NPP leader voted by 120,000 people. Is that not true? We should remember that it is the same silent Ghanaian voters who are watching who will go to the polls in 2012 to elect a national President. Since this could help to check, stop vote buying and influencing delegates either by money, wealth or material gains in pursuit of a candidate and to ensure transparency and free and fair election

Secondly, we are sad to notice that there are no printed copies of the 2010 revised party constitution available to all members of the party to acquaint themselves with the rules and regulations governing the elections. We are of the opinion that in the absence of copies of the constitution to members, the party cannot hold an incident-free elections as controversies would abound. As a matter of great urgency, the party must take steps to rectify the situation and ensure that members are abreast with the provisions of the constitution. Furthermore, it is a fact that for any flag bearer of the party to win general elections, the support and blessing of former President Rawlings is invaluable and indispensable. It is surprising to us how soon so many people in the Mills government have forgotten their dependence on Mr.Rawlings to mobilize votes for elections. He is a significant figure in this country and wields a large following across the political divide – his experience is unimaginable. Consequently, any rift between him and an NDC flag bearer which results in his withholding support for the candidate would breed a recipe for failure. We do not want a situation where President Mills may be elected at an NDC congress, but because former President Rawlings refuses to support him, as such many million NDC faithful will also choose not to take part in the 2012 elections at all. This will certainly be the case especially for the youth in the Northern and Upper regions, and we also believe a good chunk of Volta Region voters. We therefore urgently appeal to the leadership of the party to resolve the raucous rift between Presidents Rawlings and Mills before the proposed July congress, since the situation is bound to get worse after the congress if not assuaged now expeditiously. Again, in the event that President Mills does not get the nod to lead the party into the next general elections, whoever emerges as the flag bearer would need the unified support and blessing of the Mills-led government and president Rawlings in order for him/her to succeed. How can any NDC flag bearer win 2012 if an NDC government of ministers and their deputies, MCEs and DCEs and a thousand other appointees who control various funds and logistics refuse to support that person?? In other ways, we need the two leading NDC figures to be united for success.

For all these reasons, wiser heads should prevail on the National Executive to postpone the planned congress until final attempts have been made to reduce the level of acrimony in the Party leadership. We believe that there are a few persons who simply want to use this July Congress to settle their personal scores, either to prove that President Rawlings is the owner of the NDC and all his wishes must be obeyed, and those who also want to prove that President Rawlings and his family have had their time in office, and that the friends of Prof Mills are the new owners of the NDC. In either case, we need wiser heads to prevail. It is therefore surprising to us that little have been heard from the council of elders on all these matters. It is that we do not have council of elders or they just inactive and dormant, we therefore call on the council of elders, founding members of the Party, and other stakeholders should critically take a close look at the issues that we have raised and act in a manner that inures to the interest of the party. We must all think of the future of the 5 million supporters of NDC, and not just in the short-term interest of the 1,000 top NDC people who mostly reside and work in Accra. The Northern and Upper Regions are faithful supporters of the NDC, so we hope that our passionate appeal must be taken seriously. Secretary ……………….. Mohammed Mubarik