Founder of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Jerry John Rawlings fears his party may lose the 2020 general elections if things are not done right at its branch level, Today can report.
The former Ghanaian leader in a statement issued to the media last Friday observed that the recently held NDC elections at the branches were flouted with malpractices.
Mr. Rawlings whose office issued the statement following his meeting with the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia concerning petitions he (Mr. Rawlings) had received on alleged breaches in the party’s ongoing branch elections sounded unhappy.
“I have observed that certain elements in the party who are supposed to be unbiased arbiters and supervisors in these elections are rather pursuing a parochial agenda that is not in the party’s interest.
“These limited victories are like winning a battle and losing the war. We witnessed this in the selection of our parliamentary candidates in the 2016 elections, which partly accounted for our humiliating defeat in that election”, he said.
He was not happy for the fact that, the NDC was on the verge of breaking up if “we pursue this path”.
“We are on the verge of breaking up the NDC if we pursue this path. The National Executive Committee has to take a serious look at the entire branch electoral process and ascertain whether they have been held in an open, free and fair manner devoid of foul play and deliberate abuse,” Flt Lt. Rawlings stated.
The statement noted that, although Mr. Asiedu Nketia confirmed at the meeting that, he had already directed some elections to be cancelled and re-conducted in some of the areas he had toured, the NDC’s founder, however, claimed the situation in Kpando for example, was worse in spite of directives by the general secretary.
Elsewhere in some branches, Mr Rawlings said, he received complaints about constituency executives arriving with a list they read out as the branch executives, party registers not being used, candidates not being vetted, notice of polls in terms of venue, date and time not issued and executives not making nomination forms available to “some potential candidates they do not approve”.
The statement also indicated that, Mr Rawlings received reports of some branches where executives unilaterally decided that certain people were not members of the party.
The former President therefore urged all NDC members across the country who feel aggrieved by the conduct of the elections to forward their petitions and complaints to the party headquarters.
Meanwhile the statement said such copies of petitions can be sent to his
(Mr. Rawlings’) office so the concerns can be pursued with the national executive.
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