Opinions of Thursday, 18 May 2023

Columnist: Israel Gbaffah

The NDC's election: The pros and cons

National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Democratic Congress (NDC)

May 13, 2023 was a democratic victory for both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Ghana. It is important to note that democracy has come to stay and we must do our possible best to embrace it with joy.

Since 1992 when we are going to the poll to elect our leaders, people will come forth to say all kinds of negative things about the elections and one of the negative statements is that Ghana's democracy is an infant. I hope thirty years is an age of maturity.

For the past thirty years now, we have been enjoying elections nationwide. Even though we face many challenges during the elections we held yet we were able to wade through the storms.

Last Saturday, NDC went to the pool to elect their presidential and parliamentarian aspirants. There were a lot of things every Ghanaian should learn from the just-ended NDC elections. Even though the elections were peacefully organised and held, yet the grievances of some ousted members cannot go unheeded.

Many parliamentary gurus were ousted. Examples are ABA Fuseini in the Sagnarigu contest and Kwabena Donkor for Pru East were among the biggest surprises. An election is a race and only one person will come forth as a winner.

Things went sore when Dr. Kwabena Duffour went to the court for redress. This does not sound well for a party. If the party has executive leaders who are leading the party, why should the party wash its dirty clothes before the public? Necessary steps should be laid down and taken in addressing issues raised by members when there is an emerging election by any party of the state.

Democracy is very expensive. For the former president, John Mahama to give GH¢40 to each delegate as a transportation nationwide shows that there is more money in Ghana.

Our leaders are just wicked and will never release the money to help build the nation but use it as bait during elections. This does not augur well for our democracy. It will not be long, we are going to find John Mahama's cars and vehicles plying our roads campaigning. Politicians will remember that you are alive only when there is an election.

Those who stood to be elected in the presidential elections did well to challenge their former boss. NDC has to respect its own constitution and never allow people to be injured during elections time.

What is good for former president John Mahama should also be good for any other person. The same platform should be given to everyone who stood. That is the essence of democracy.

Disrespect and partiality should be done away with because some of these people have invested a large sum of money in the elections so when they are called by all kinds of gruesome names because of their constitutional rights will never promote peaceful elections.

We pray that when December 7 comes, we will all come together to elect the right candidate to lead our motherland Ghana.