A former National Organizer of the National Democratic Congress, Yaw Boateng Gyan, says a chairmanship race between Samuel Ofosu Ampofo and Johnson Aseidu Nketia is likely to threaten the victory of the party in 2024.
According to Mr Gyan, a victory in the 2024 elections is not a done deal for the NDC; the reason the party needs the two experienced executives to execute that plan.
He argued that the two have a considerable support base in the party, so the aftermath of the December 17 National executive elections will divide the support base of the two candidates, citing the party’s 2016 humiliating defeat to a similar incident which occurred during the 2014 national elections organized at the Kumasi sports stadium.
“The 2014 executive elections held at the Kumasi Sports stadium hugely contributed to our defeat in 2016. This is so because of how some candidates were treated in that election, their followers refused to vote in the national elections out of anger. And that single decision we took (in 2014) is the reason we are still in opposition. My followers and that of the defeated chairman Kwabena Agyei were badly hurt. Some of them vowed not to vote in the national elections because of how we were treated and indeed did not vote, which is why we are in opposition till date.”
He added that the party has an arduous task of projecting its candidate ahead of the 2024 elections, and it will not be prudent for the party to waste time trying to resolve enmity and cracks after the December 17, 2022, national executives” elections.
“We have less than 2 years to the crucial 2024 elections. How do we then reconcile supporters of the two after the December elections before focusing on the main elections. Unfortunately, the party does not have the luxury of time to do that. Our focus should rather be projecting our candidate for the elections and not to spend time addressing the division caused by the two factions, which could have been avoided,” he told Kwesi Parker-Wilson, host of Kumasi-based Oyerepa TV.
He also called on the national council of elders to intervene in the impending contest between Samuel Ofosu Ampofo and General Secretary Johnson Aseidu Nketia.
“The two have a huge following in the party, so if we fail to address this issue and look on like that, it could affect the chances of the party in 2024. So I am asking the National Council of Elders to immediately intervene before it degenerates into something else. We shouldn’t say we are deepening internal democracy, so we should allow anything to happen in the party,” he added.
SOURCE theghanaianvoice
