A group of hardcore cadres of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is said to be on a rescue mission to take the party away from some apparent ‘hijackers’ and bankrollers who have virtually abandoned the values of the party.
The cadres intend to rescue NDC and revert it to the grassroots in line with the principles on which the party was formed.
Speaking at a forum organised by some leading members of the party on securing NDC’s future at Tema in the Greater Accra Region, a former National Vice Chairman and an unrepentant cadre, Mr. Dan Abodakpi said the party grassroots are key structures in determining the party’s chances in annexing political victory.
He attributed NDC’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election to the neglect of the grassroots.
According to him, the party has departed from its values and that the only way to secure its future is to return to its ideologies of probity, accountability and participatory democracy.
Mr Abodakpi is worried that the party has over the years, strayed from its founding principles that gave birth to participatory democracy in Ghana.
“Participation as we thought from the beginning of the revolution was that, it should be inclusive; that the mass of our people from whom power is derived must not only be policy takers but must be involved in policy evolution from the grassroots and that was why we fought very hard through the work of the PDC (People’s Defence Committees) to create what has now become Unit Committees recognised in our constitution.
“It is unfortunate my brothers and sisters that even though we are the originators of that idea (formation of Unit Committees) our party today is not firmly rooted at the unit or branch level. We have become a huge elephant, not the NPP elephant. A huge elephant standing on clay feet,” he quipped.
The former Minister for Trade and Industry under President Jerry John Rawlings’ NDC administration stressed that the party must be strengthened at all levels.
This, he said, can be done by ensuring that NDC does not only exist as an electioneering machine but a true social democratic body that is able to carry the aspirations and hopes of the people.
“I’m sure if I ask my colleague from Tema Central that I want to visit her branches today, the branches will be there in name but not really there. So is the case in my Keta Constituency, so it is the case everywhere and that explains the reason why victory will be beckoning us in 2020 and come to the finishing line; that victory will be taken from our hands” the former Keta MP said.
Other speakers included former Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah under John Mahama administration; and Mr Goosie Tanoh, also a cadre and NDC founding member.
Dr Spio-Garbrah urged the rank and file of the party to contribute to the revival of its “Unit Committees” in the 275 constituencies in a bid to snatch power from the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2024.
The battle for the control of the soul and leadership of the main opposition NDC ahead of the 2024 general election is expected to be fiercely fought.
There are those who believe that former President Mahama who lost the last two general elections should not be returned to the next election whilst his adherents strongly think he is NDC’s best bet in the 2024 polls.
