The former Director of election for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said, people working for the party do so on voluntary basis and don’t get paid.
According to him, it is erroneous for people to demand pay at the end of the month when the party since its inception has been run by volunteers.
This is in sharp contrast to the mission and vision of flagbearer hopeful, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor who is embarking on energizing the party’s base through funding.
As part of his vision, he has begun a project dubbed Ahotor Project, aimed at funding the party at the branch and constituency level.
However, Mr. Afriyie Ankrah believes otherwise as according to him, people who decide to work for the party must do so without any expectations.
“The party is made up of volunteers, okay. We’re all volunteers, nobody pays us. I was a full-time lecturer at UPSA when I was Deputy General Secretary. Nobody gets paid, it’s voluntary,” he said on JoyNews’ PM Express.
“And this is how the party has been run on voluntary basis. If you want to introduce innovation, how do we fund our party? That is a conversation that has been going on continuous, and you know I’m an advocate for us looking at how we fund political parties, something that I’m very passionate about.”he added.
“But you cannot come to a general conclusion and say branch executives are not paid. When you’re campaigning for a position, you don’t advocate that you should be paid, it’s voluntary. It’s just like any other voluntary organization.”he said.
He added that while it is “simplistic posturing” to expect that party branch executives get paid, there are various ways in which party branch managers can fund their activities.
“There’s a world of a difference between saying you want to help finance the party through various activities and saying party branch executives are not paid. So what about those who go and vote, should they be paid?
“So you see, it’s a very simplistic posturing to take that we don’t pay the branches, we don’t pay them. But of course they do a lot of activities that require funding, that’s why at any given time when it comes to elections, people make donations, sell paraphernalia and those things.
“And indeed when he brought this project, we welcomed it that it was good. The only issue is the modalities; there have been misunderstanding about how it should be implemented. So I don’t think this should be the main focus of our discussion,” he told host, Evans Mensah.
He however commended the initiative by the former Finance Minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, but insisted that is not the right way to energize the party base.
source: theGhanaianvoice.com
