The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, popularly known as General Mosquito, has described anyone against his chairmanship bid as anti-democratic.
According to Asiedu Nketia, competition is the lifeblood of democracy and anyone against it is not a believer in democracy.
The longtime NDC scribe is gearing up to contest against current National Chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo at the party’s upcoming congress and some party leaders have tried to stop him from competing in the name of ‘unity’.
A former National Organizer of the party, Yaw Boateng Gyan, said a chairmanship race between Samuel Ofosu Ampofo and Johnson Aseidu Nketia is likely to threaten the victory of the party in 2024.
“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.
“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.
Former Deputy General Secretary, Koku Anyidoho, has also expressed similar sentiments.
However, Johnson Asiedu Nketia said anyone holding such sentiments is anti-democratic because the records show that any position in the party can be challenged during any congress.
He recounted how he has been challenged every single congress during his tenure as General Secretary.
“Which democracy does not have a rivalry, or are we deciding to abandon democracy? People who believe my contest with Ofosu-Ampofo will bring rivalry are fundamentally wrong. That thinking is anti-democratic because proponents of democracy say democracy must bring competition for the best to emerge,” he said.
“They also say democracy is the worse form of government but there is no better alternative. This shows that democracy has its shortcomings but its positives outweigh the shortcomings thus you have to live by it. If you are running a democracy, you have to live with fallouts from this little little competition. From 2002 till now, every position in the party has been up for a contest. Can you mention one congress in which someone has not contested me?” the NDC chief scribe quizzed.
Source: theGhanaianVoice.Com