The NDC was a vehicle created for the then PNDC Chairman, Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings to contest the 1992 presidential elections as a civilian. But that was not where his heart lay. He was more interested in a rival creation by his cousin Michael Soussoudis, initially called Eagle Party which later morphed into EGLE – Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere.
NDC triumphed over EGLE mainly due to its superior political strategists and intellectual firepower. It was made up of the frontline stalwarts who kept the PNDC afloat from December 31 1981 to 1992 when a new constitution ushered in a multi-party democratic dispensation. The NDC had a deep well full of ready adherents made up of “cadres” whose loyalty to the former airman was unwavering. The NDC went on to win the 1992 elections, though disputed by the NPP, and Flt. Lt. Rawlings became the first President of the 4thRepublic. The Party and the retired Flt. Lt. went on to win the !996 elections and he completed his second term.
But it was not an easy relationship between party and strong man. As President, he wielded immense control over the party, imposing his will at every turn and even as former President kept insisting on having his way. An honorific title of Founder was conferred on him and since leaving office has embarked on a relentless campaign against the party that made him and its leaders including President Mills and President Mahama culminating in what many regard currently as his defection to the NPP.
Some NDC party faithful even swear that it was his badmouthing of the party which added to the NPP negatives that eventually led to the party’s defeat. True or false, he has never shown any remorse for the NDC’s loss in 2016 and actually came across as revelling in it. His wife Nana Konadu, had broken away to found her own party, NDP, and even contested the 2016 elections as presidential candidate for the NDP. She openly campaigned against the NDC and even recorded a message calling on Ghanaians not to vote for the NDC. For whatever it is, Mr. and Mrs. Rawlings have turned their backs on the party that once adulated them and they regarded as their own.
Though Nana Konadu’s NDP was nothing but a mere irritant, the NDC twice faced disintegration, first with Goosie Tandoh breaking away to form the Reform Party to contest the ’96 Election and Dr. Obed Asamoah also breaking away to form the Democratic Freedom Party for the 2008 Elections. The NDC held on, losing the 2000 and 2004 elections. It bounced back to win the 2008 and 2012 elections but couldn’t make it in the 2016.
It is a modern and bona fide political party going into presidential primaries this Saturday to prepare for 2020. Having dropped its earlier revolutionary rhetoric for the much more humanistic doctrine of Social Democracy the party under Presidents Mills and Mahama cultivated a much gentler and softer “asomdwe” image. It is on the platform of Social Democracy that the party’s policies are now based.
This weekend is arguably one of the most significant crossroads in the party’s history where a former president is being challenged for the nomination to lead the party into an election. It could be a make or break for the party, for the slightest miscalculation leading to the choice of the “wrong” aspirant to run as Presidential Candidate would doom the NDC for a very long time to come. It has been a bitter and rancorous campaign with five aspirants mercilessly trying to deny the one person who can make the difference the chance.
It is most baffling the way the five have ganged up against President John Dramani Mahama. Why it is not clear to them that none of them has national appeal is a wonder. Should their hubris deny JDM the election, then they should ready themselves individually and severally to face their party’s demise in 2020.
The NPP would love nothing better than one of the five wining on Saturday for them to dance the “Bobolibobo” back into power. All the vexatious law suits, barrage of negative propaganda against JDM are deliberately instigated to achieve that.
JDM out of office has become a lot more attractive to the electorate, which the NPP is aware of. The lies of Election 2016 have worn thin and people have become much the wiser and more discerning.
In conclusion, I surrender the final words on this pre-election commentary to veteran Nigerian politician and journalist, Dele Momodu, who said:
“I don’t hide the fact that I love Mahama. A perfect gentleman, charismatic, very confident, forward looking, visionary. He is doing a great job…People who want to abuse him can do so; they have been doing so…It has not stopped him from building hospitals, it has not stopped him from building roads, it has not stopped him from building a first class international airport in Accra, it has not stopped his housing project, it has not stopped his water project, he is doing rural electrification, he is doing rural health care delivery, he is building libraries everywhere. It is incredible, some people run Kwame Nkrumah out of this town, the man we call the father of the nation today…Why? Go and read his story, you will cry! That is what we must prevent. When we see a man who is doing great, let us encourage him to do more; we cannot ruin all our leaders with politics. It is wrong! I have had an opportunity and privilege to sit down and interview President Mahama at length. I put all the questions that you cannot imagine anybody can ask him frontally. You would think we were quarrelling, I said people say you are a thief, you are just stealing their money; he responded,.. The man is so confident about what he is doing…When you read that interview some people would have to beg God for forgiveness, that why are we maligning a good character…”
The above is what the NDC has to retain or discard. Hopefully, good sense would prevail.
Commentary by Oli A. Rahman, Tesano, Accra
