[ 2017-04-06 ]

Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor, Former Minister of Defence

NDC woes deepen
Former Minister of Defence and a member of the
Cadres Association of the opposition National
Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor,
has called on leadership of the party to hold an
early congress.

This, he stressed, will save the NDC from breaking
up.

Blaming the party’s defeat on corruption and
greediness, the Cadres stressed that they wanted
the current leadership of the NDC to call for an
early congress to forestall the despondency that
was fast creeping into the party, only for
adventurists to exploit the situation.

“The NDC which had won four out of the six
previous elections under the Fourth Republican
Constitution on the platform of probity and
accountability has no response to the numerous
accusations of corruption and incompetence.

“…this gives credence to the adage that it is
the ruling government which loses elections and
not the opposition party that wins elections,”
the Cadres underscored this in a statement signed
by its Secretary, Akuamoah Ofosu, and issued to
the media yesterday in Accra.

It noted that the NDC’s defeat in last year’s
election was due to misplaced priorities of the
leadership of the party.

According to the statement, the magnitude and
spread of the defeat across the country was
unprecedented.

The cadres in the statement could not understand
why there has been a deafening silence from the
party’s leadership, giving the ruling New
Patriotic Party (NPP) an unchallenged political
space to re-instate its dominance, while the
rank-and-file of the NDC looks on in despair.

The statement pointed out that the leadership of
the NDC was dumbfounded since they were over
confident of a resounding victory, and therefore
could not provide appropriate response to the
anger and bitterness expressed by members of the
party in the aftermath of the defeat.

“The NDC, as we are aware, was born out of a
revolution and was crafted with the principles and
values that were the main ingredients for the
prosecution of the National Democratic
Revolution.

“…the National Democratic Revolution was
proclaimed on 31st December, 1981 with a view of
creating a firm basis for the attainment of social
justice, grassroots participatory democracy,
probity and accountability in public life, rapid
national development and social progress,” it
said.

These, according to the statement, were to be
attained through mass mobilisation, grassroots
organisation, discipline and hard work by the
masses and patriots of this country

It stated that the evolution of the contemporary
multiparty democracy that “we enjoy today, was
based on the struggles of ordinary people for
political space and voice.”

The statement said the NDC has long held the
belief that the people of this country will not
surrender their independence and abandon their
struggle to restore hope and dignity to the common
man.

It maintained that the NDC has been structured in
such a way as to enlist the active support and
participation of the people at the grassroots and
in the communities.

“This is to unite effort, promote democracy and
enhance discipline. There is no substitute for
grassroots mobilisation and organisation for
electoral victory. Let us be reminded of the axiom
that elections are won long before Election Day.
The Election Day is for pulling your members,
supporters and sympathisers to the polling booth
to cast their votes.”

“We (Cadres) therefore need credible, committed,
ideologically clear and dedicated party cadres and
activists who believe in grassroots mobilisation
and organisation to offer themselves for
leadership of the party in the reorganisation
exercise,” it stressed.

Meanwhile in an interview with Today yesterday,
Dr. Kunbuor affirmed the cadres position on the
early congress, saying any further delay(s) will
spark doom for the NDC.

Source - todayonline.com

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