Blame me for NDC's defeat not my young appointees - Mahama

Former President of Ghana, John Mahama, has warn members of the NDC party to halt blaming his appointees for  National Democratic Congress'(NDC) defeat but him because he led the party in the 2016 election.

According to Mr. Mahama in a meeting with is appointees said  “Some say the young people [are to blame]; just say: ‘I don’t like the people’ and not that they are young,” 

Several members of the opposition NDC have blamed party executives for the defeat  and in view of that,  a thirteen (13) member committee has been formed to investigate the cause of the party's defeat in the 2016 election. 

However, even before the committee present it's report, Ex President Mahama has said all blame should be directed at him because he led the party in the elections. 

“Of course as the general who led us into battle, I take ultimate responsibility for our losing the election and so if it will satisfy those people, blame me for the loss.”

Refuting claims that suggest the young members caused the party down, he said he became a Deputy Minister to Ekwow Spio Garbrah at age 39, adding that even though he and his other colleagues were young “we served and served properly”.

He continued: “I’m sure Spio was in his forties at the time; you can’t say he was a small boy.

“In the revolutionary period, all those surrounding Rawlings were in their twenties and thirties… It is not about age, our party has always given opportunities to young people and that is what we are, and so if we lose we should not blame the young people. The demographics of Ghana is shifting in favour of young people, with [persons] 35 years and below forming about 60 per cent of our population. So when you want appointees, where are you going to get them from? And you need those people to gain experience to become what you consider as older and experienced people.”

He further called on members of the party to take advantage of the Prof. Botchway’s committee to express their grievances instead of the media.

 

“I’ve been meeting with FEC and the elders; the chairman of the party is now the leader according to our constitution but all of us are members of the party. We’ve served at high level of government and so we have a role to play both as ex-president, ex vice president, as ministers of state and our fortunes are tied in with the party and we are committed members of the party so we must work to make sure that we put the party in a state where we are able to contribute to the progress of this country even in opposition by making sure that we provide the kind of opposition that safeguards the interest of the people.”