<<Print>>

I believe strongly that, a united National Democratic Congress (NDC), is in the best interest of the various factions operating the party. Although, ex-President, John Evans Atta Mills is dead, some people are still holding onto the contest that deepened the internal democracy and had become a test case for political students and future elections i.e. the contest between him and the former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings. This contest is what gave birth to Get Atta Mills Endorsed (GAME) and Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (FONKAR). That the NDC has been described by many as a rainbow party, because of the diversity of its members is not in doubt. Also not in doubt is the fact that the party has always found expression in the downtrodden, the marginalized, has a bottom up approach to consensus building and healthy competition, has always in the fabric of the party. Some caveat ab intio, I have no affiliation with any of the individuals, whose names will appear on the ballot papers on December 20, when the party assembles in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital to elect National Executives, neither do i have any relationship with any faction they represent or which they represent, I am therefore, not an official mouthpiece for any of them. Those wishing NDC breakup, do not wish the party well, this is especially so when we consider that the reasons adduced for the breakup are not tenable. The party since 1992, when we ushered in the Fourth Republican dispensation, has always harness its diversity to it advantage and that is not about to change. I have learnt to judge by facts; not sentiments. So should every true democrat. I work with the proven and the established, not the hoped; albeit secularly. By sight and by history, I adduce the real and the empirical. I do not subscribe to the idea of the blind phantasm. If you claim it, you must either demonstrate it or prove it to be true. That is the simple foundational praxis of science. Historical facts are never censured by sentimental postulations and biases. Facts are facts irrespective. Hell broke loose in the party, when some people declared to contest for some of the executive positions in the party, which to me was to mark the beginning of another era, and not to end the forward movement of the party. Typical of any contest, especially in politics, fingers started pointing and they were told where they come from and who they supported. The reasons adduced for why they reckon those people, would not be considered is because in 2010, when the party open nomination for the flagbearership of the party for the 2012 Presidential election, those people supported Nana Konadu against President Mills, who is no more. The question of loyalty has come up again and again, and I asked, loyalty to who, to the NDC party or to our late President? Competition is the lifeblood of democracy; dissent must not be seen as against the system, but rather helping to strengthen it. When Nana Konadu, declared her intention to contest President Mills, a lot of us, me inclusive thought that it was a bad decision, but in the spirit of competition and democracy that we all claim to subscribe to, she was allowed to contest and thank God, she got her humiliation. After that contest in Sunyani, she left the NDC and went on to form the National Democratic Party (NDP), the true democrats who supported her and thought that, that decision was ill advised, publicly denounced any association with that party, they stayed with the party, until the untimely death of Prof. Mills. They helped, campaigned for President John Dramani Mahama, for a landslide victory in 2012, against a very competent, tried and tested Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. My understanding of events is that President Mahama, is now the leader of the NDC and so somebody�s allegiance to Nana Konadu, should not be held against them, especially so because, when at the time Nana Konadu contested President Mills, she was still a member of the party. President Mills is dead and President Mahama is the new face of the party, the question or if you may, whatever should concern everybody is, whether their loyalty is to President Mahama and the NDC, not a dead man. Those using President Mills as the reason for delegates not to vote for others, do not have a message, if they do, they will realize that, this time is a different time with different person. Sometime ago, before anybody could get anywhere close to any position in the party, that person must identify with former President, Jerry John Rawlings. Dr Kwabena Adjei and Asiedu Nketia, became both the Chairman and the General Secretary, because they had the overwhelming endorsement of President Rawlings. The party cannot move forward by looking into the rear mirror that will be a recipe for disaster. The party and those people pushing for that agenda must learn to move on. The party has demonstrated over time that it is not for one person, even the founder, Jerry Rawlings, at some point, was made to understand that the party was bigger than him. It is not a property for one person; you are only there because the party wants you to be there. The party, should not die with President Mills, once ability and appropriateness to contest for any position, should not be based on ones loyalty to President Mills or Mahama. President Mills, did his best for the party and the country, he must be allow to rest. Should President Rawlings also go round to tell party faithful that, do not vote for anybody who insulted me. The party is getting tired with those who think that they are more NDC than others, because of differences of opinion. Followers or loyalist of President Mills are becoming intolerant. Dr. Ekow Spio Garbrah, had his fair share of their intolerance, because he contested President Mills for the flagbearership position of the party. Lesson: God will not do for us what He has equipped us with the capacity to do for ourselves.