Former president JJ Rawlings’ call for a total overhaul of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to restore the core principles on which the party was founded is nothing new, according to the party’s deputy national organiser.
Addressing a durbar to celebrate the 38th anniversary of the June 4th uprising in the Upper West regional capital, Wa, Mr. Rawlings attributed the dreadful performance of the NDC in the 2016 elections to the betrayal of the principles of the revolution—probity, accountability and integrity.
Thus, according to him, for the party to be able to return to power in 2020 there is the need to completely overhaul it.
“If we cannot get our claws off and allow for fresh leadership to emerge then we shall sink further,” he warned Sunday June 4, 2017 during his address at the anniversary.
In his reaction however, the Deputy National Organiser, Joshua Amidu Akamba described Mr. Rawlings’ rhetoric as unsurprising and that it is a rehash of earlier calls.
Speaking on Accra FM Monday June 5, 2017, Mr. Akamba said: “On the overhauling of the NDC leadership, I am not surprised at all because Mr Rawlings has been calling for this for a very long time, and so it is not new.”
That notwithstanding, he said he agrees with Mr. Rawlings that “greed” among party folks caused the NDC the 2016 elections, saying “We had some party people who openly worked against some parliamentary candidates because they themselves didn’t win to contest or their preferred choices did not win. That was unacceptable.”
