Accra, Jan 12, GNA - Dr Kwabena Adjei, National Chairman of National Democratic Congress (NDC), on Thursday said despite the recent resignations of some of its former office holders the NDC was growing stronger and stronger and poised to wrest power from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2008.

He said although the resignations posed a challenge to the Party yet it called for action instead of a cause for despair, and that every political party suffered losses at one time or the other but such losses should not spell the doom of the party.

He thus called on those who resigned from the Party following the recent National Delegates Congress to return to the Party. Dr Adjei, who was speaking at the first press conference by the new National Executive after the recent National Delegates Congress in Koforidua, noted that following the national congress the Party executive had observed with regret the reports in the media of the resignation of Dr Obed Asamoah, Former National Chairman, Madam Frances Assiam, Former National Women Organiser, Mr Kweku Baah, Former National Vice Chairman, Mr Nti Fordjuor, Former Ashanti Regional Chairman and recently Mr Steve Akorli, Former Ho East Member of Parliament (MP) and Former Minister of Roads and Transport.

"We regret the resignations and will make every effort to try to convince those who say they have resigned to return to the NDC family where they belong," he said.

He, however, denied allegations of hooliganism, violence and intimidation at the Party congress assigned by some of the resigned persons as reasons for their resignation, saying that even some of the Party functionaries regarded as "Obed Asamoah Loyalists" who contested and won positions in the Party Executive still remained and worked actively for the Party after the congress.

"That makes the reasons given by those who claim to have resigned as arising from so-called intimidation and violence at the Koforidua congress a little suspect," he observed.

Dr Adjei was, however, quick to admit to what he called a few avoidable unfortunate, isolated and irresponsible acts of waywardness and skirmishes reported to have occurred during the Koforidua congress. He, therefore, apologized to all those who were victims of those acts, saying that "even though the new NDC Executive Committee was not involved in or responsible for the organization of the congress, we as a new leadership will take full responsibility for any and all acts of omission and commission".

Dr Adjei said the Former National Executive, led by Dr Asamoah, under whose leadership the National Congress was organized and conducted, should also take equal responsibility for the undesirable incidents that took place, mainly outside the main hall of the Congress venue.

Dr Adjei said few days before the Koforidua Congress Dr Asamoah exhibited some undemocratic tendencies and based on that on December 20, 2005, Dr Asamoah held a meeting with some senior members of the Party, whom he believed were not in favour of his candidacy at a hotel in Accra.

He said the meeting, which was moderated by Mr Alban S. K. Bagbin, Dr Asamoah proposed "a single slate for the NDC congress", which would have made the Koforidua congress unnecessary.

The NDC Chairman said on the Friday before the congress a book entitled "what Obed stands for" traced to the authorship of Obed himself, was launched at Koforidua, and it was a document supposed to have outlined Obed's vision for the Party and it rather set out to castigate and damn certain leading members of the Party.

"On December 19, 2005, Dr Asamoah, at a meeting with the NDC MPs condemned the NDC Council of Elders and categorically told the meeting that he did not want to carry the historic responsibility of breaking the NDC, " he said.

Dr Adjei noted that the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) was desirous of the division and eventual demise of the NDC but that would not happen and that in the future the NDC would publish a body of evidence of the NPP's nefarious activities intended to divide the NDC and the entire country.

Dr Adjei said he was not happy with the way the media and the Police were always swift to deal with perceived violence in the NDC and virtually did nothing about the several incidence of violence at various meetings and congress of the NPP.

He appealed to the media and the Police to give equal attention to issues of violence in NPP as they did the NDC in order to disabuse the minds of the masses of the notion that the NDC was a violent Party, saying; "that erroneous notion is a media creation".

Dr Adjei said as part of an action plan of the new National Executive for the next political period, it would mobilize funds to offset the debt incurred at the both the NDC National Headquarters and elsewhere under the administration of the Former National Executive. "We plan to undertake a tour of the regions and the constituencies to acquaint ourselves with the problems of the Party at the grassroots and give our activists the recognition they deserve," he said.

He said the National Executive would also appoint special spokespersons to speak on behalf of the Party to avoid the situation where any member of the Party speaking on his or her own behalf was regarded as speaking on behalf of the NDC Dr Adjei told the rank and file of the Party that the new National Executive would not pander with any characters with parochial vested interest in the Party, saying that it would create a fair playing field for all members interested in serving the Party in any capacity.