Politics of Friday, 3 September 2004

Source: --

Crisis Hits NDC

Just weeks before the 2004 elections and as the campaign season enters its crucial stage, serious cracks have appeared in the NDC national leadership and if not resolved the NDC may well go into the elections without its national chairman. Information gathered by newsmen says the national chairman of the NDC, Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah is seriously disturbed about the hijacking of the Mills campaign team by extremists in the party, and has threatened to quit the chairmanship in protest.

Already he has refused to be a member of the campaign committee which has been reconstituted without his knowledge.

Sources at the Mills campaign headquarters sighted a strongly worded letter dated August 25, 2004 written by Dr Asamoah and addressed to Mr. Harry Sawyer which made scathing remarks about how Prof Mills?s campaign is being run by people who have no business running it. Among other things the letter strongly denounced attempts to reintroduce the co-chairmanship system which was abandoned by the NDC at its last congress and attempts to undermine his authority as the chairman of the party.

Dr. Asamoah further complained about the reconstitution of the national campaign committee without his knowledge and he pointedly refused to be a member of the new committee. In recent times, the NDC presidential candidate, Prof. Mills, has apparently lost control of his own campaign. Even though Prof. Mills has repeatedly claimed to be a man of peace and promised to hold a campaign devoid of insults and violence, those purportedly campaigning on his behalf have always unleashed a barrage of insults on host opponents and promised mayhem against innocent Ghanaians.