If former President John Dramani Mahama has any intention of coming back to lead the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 elections, Today can report that that dream has been shattered by the leaked report of Kwesi Botchwey-led Committee.
The NDC, after its humiliating defeat in the 2016 general elections, set up a 13-member committee headed by former Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Prof. Kwesi Botchwey, to investigate the cause of the party’s defeat and as well propose the way forward for any future national elections.
But the 67-page yet-to be released report by the committee, cited by Today, has blamed former President Dramani Mahama, who was the party’s 2016 flag-bearer, for being the cause of the party’s abysmal performance in the 2016 elections.
Even though President Dramani Mahama is yet to announce his coming back, the report seems to make his chances very slim as it has recommended for a new candidate to lead the NDC in the 2020 elections.
What has delayed the release of the report, which was supposed to have been out last month, according to sources close to the committee, is that some members on the committee who are loyalists of the former President were not happy with some recommendations by the committee; prominent among them is to have a new candidate for the NDC.
For instance, at one of the committee’s meeting held outside Accra last month to put finishing touches to the report, our sources said, it nearly hit a snag as former President Dramani Mahama’s loyalists vehemently opposed the recommendation of having a new presidential candidate for the party in 2020.
Excerpts of the report, apart from backing a new flag-bearer for the party, have also recommended that any future presidential nominee of the NDC must work in tandem with the party structures, by bringing on board national and regional executives, polling agents and those at the grassroots to help in campaigning.
According to the report, the neglect of the grassroots, including the founder of the party, former President Jerry John Rawlings, and some leading members of the party during President Dramani Mahama’s first term played a key role in the NDC’s defeat as they were peeved by their leaders.
On why President Dramani Mahama should be replaced, the report pointed out that the 2016 flag-bearer of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who is now the President of the Republic of Ghana, used his incorruptible mantra to the disadvantage of “our (NDC’s) candidate who was alleged to have endorsed corruption in his government.”
“The NPP won because their leader was acclaimed to be incorruptible while ours was tainted with corruption and bribery, so going into the 2020 elections we (Kwesi Botchwey Committee) propose that we elect somebody who can also claim to be incorruptible,” the report said.
It also blamed President Dramani Mahama for encouraging the formation of various groups during the electioneering campaign like ‘Friends of Mahama,’ ‘Youth for Mahama’ among others which were resourced by the former President at the detriment of the party.
The report noted that the loyalty of those groups was in doubt as they were not under any supervision.
It bemoaned the pomposity of some NDC communicators, who the report said, failed to address the hardship Ghanaians were going through, but instead were happy with the so-called ‘Green Book’ and the massive infrastructure done by the government.
The report was further not happy with the way pro-NDC media houses were treated.
“Our own media organisations were made to starve while the then pro-opposition media were given resources, with the view that they would leak information to us, but nothing of that sort happened,” the report asserted.
Meanwhile, many names have popped up since the defeat of the NDC to lead the party in the 2020 elections.
Among these include the former Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. Ekwow Spio Garbrah, former Vice Chancellor of University of Professional Studies (UPS), Prof. Joshua Alabi, Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumani Bagbin, former Chief Executive Officer of National Health Insurance Authority (NHIS), Sylvester Mensah, and a cadre, Goosie Tandor.
Source: Today Newspaper
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Ndcfuo de3 mo'agyimi. Even your own report by your a committee set up by you is being disputed. Eeei! What sort of people are you instead of having sober reflection on it and taking a cue and a good sense from it look at an idi*t accusing Nana Addo who has humiliated this unrepentant John mahama that Nana and NPP are scared of somebody they've beating to pulp. Ooooh No!mo'agyimi dodo this your utterances with no sense make your party unattractive. Anyway! None of those mentioned can beat the NPP in 2020 no matter how you paint them. Sylvester Mensah has a stone to grind with the Ashanti region by his infamous NHIS capitation he used that region as rabbits for experiment and many people died out of that hate for that region and that unpopular policy. How can somebody who chose a region to hate and wished they didn't exist be president of Ghana? If ndc choose Sylvester Mensah what is he going to tell the people in the Ashanti region or you think Ashanti ' s have short memory? Moreover he is corrupt and John mahama went after him, he was sacked from the NHIS.Joshua Alabi is another ndc hateful and ***barred word*** member who will divide and rule Ghana and I tell you such people will find it tough winning election in Ghana. Ghana will never make any mistake to choose ndc to bring us economic hardship and suffering. They very wicked and callous people who love divide and rule. We Akans have learnt a lesson from the ndc by using our people from the Central region as front runners for power and any minority as running mate and killing them later for you to ascend the presidency and inject us with your wickedness of economic hardship and suffering,insults and arrogance, ste*ling with impunity and pomposity. Ndc will stay in opposition for long. Ndc yamutu
well said
NDC has no chance against the NPP if mahama come back. the loss margin will even be more. this is very straight forward.
IT WILL BE A SHOCKER TO ME IF A COMMITTEE SUCH AS THE PRO. KWESI BITCWAY CAN DECIDE IN THEIR REPORT THAT THEY WILL ISOLATE AN INDIVIDUAL FROM CONTESTING NDC PRIMARIES. THIS CAN NEVER BE TRUE.THIS WHAT WE CALL FAKE NEWS.
The NDC should go back to its foundational ideology. The new Democrats don't even know the true vision and origin of the NDC. As much as we want vibrancy and youthfulness we should never forget our Origin/Tradition. The Goodie Tanoh's, Spin Gabrah's and the Sylvester Mensah's are true and original sons of The NDC. Let's weed the corrupted weeds out, and let's make our party attractive again. Long Live The National Democratic Congress
AKUFO ADDO AND THE NPP IS JUST SCARED OF JDM COME BACK IN 2020, BECAUSE THE NPP WILL BE THE FIRST POLITICAL PARTY IN THE 4TH REPUBLIC IN GHANA TO SERVE ONLY ONE TERM IN GOVERNMENT, HENCE ALL THIS PROPAGANDA PUBLICATION. JDM FOR NDC ALL THE WAY FOR VICTORY 2020.
This is fake The report is not ready