NDC's troubles deepen; Asiedu Nketia, Kofi Adams at loggerheads?

The troubles of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) seem to be getting deeper and deeper and the divisions getting wider and wider as the days go by.

Having, in the run up to the 2016 general elections, positioned itself as a united party which was well focused on delivering its campaign promises much more than the New Patriotic Party (NPP) which was described as divided and not ready to govern the country.

The then President and leader of the NDC, John Mahama on the campaign trail at Bimbilla in the Northern Region, in an obvious reference to the suspensions which the NPP had handed out to some of its executives including National Chairman, Paul Afoko and General Secretary, Kwabena Agyepong, went as far as labelling the NPP's Nana Akufo-Addo as a dictator and a divisive leader who could not manage his party let alone Ghana.

These and many other such comments from the leadership of the NDC created the impression all was well within the party.

December 7 finally came and Ghanaians voted massively for a 'divided' NPP handing the NDC an unprecedented defeat with their candidate losing by about one million votes and the party losing about 50 seats in parliament. 

The defeat, not taken lightly by the supporters of the party, brought up many issues in the NDC which had never been made public as many of the footsoldiers started accusing party leaders of mismanaging campaign funds and sidelining the grassroots.

In a swift move to curb such utterances, the party set up a committee headed by former Finance Minister, Professor Kwesi Botchwey to tour the regions and gather information on what might have caused their heavy defeat in the elections.nstead of 

But instead of attending upon the committee to lay bare their grievances, some party supporters have shown disregard for the platform offered and have either gone ahead to castigate their executives in the media either tried to stop the committee's work.

One such incident turned violent as the committee's members got held hostage by some party youth at Koforidua at the Eredec Hotel last Thursday.

The youth who were accusing their regional leadership of causing the party’s defeat in the polls wanted them [regional executives] out of the arranged meeting with the committee so they could vent their frustrations.

Just after that came an accusation by one of the vociferous supporters of the party in the NPP stronghold of Ashanti Region, Frank Appiah aka 'Appiah Stadium' that the NDC's Vice Chairperson, Anita Desoso and Deputy General  have hatched a plan to make it impossible for Mr Mahama to stage a comeback to lead the NDC in 2020 elections.

While Anita Desoso recently blamed the various campaign groups that were formed for Mahama for largely contributing to the party’s defeat in last year’s elections, Koku Anyidoho had, in an earlier interview on GHOne TV's State of Affairs, professed his love for the later President J.E.A. Mills under whom he worked as the Communications Director at the Presidency but failed to declare same for former President Mahama saying “I loved President Mills, but I worked for President Mahama.”

Though Koku has come out to explain that his statement does not mean that he does not love former President Mahama but being a sitting national executive, it was his way of avoiding endorsing any candidate.

According to him, as a loyal party man, he was at the service of the leadership of the party and since the leadership of the party rotates from time to time, it ould be wrong for him to behave as if he was serving one candidate.

"What I said was that leadership rotates at any point in time. My loyalty is to leadership, what is the crime and you know leadership is determined by the people. I got into the position of deputy general secretary because the people voted for me I didn’t impose myself on the people and the point I am making is that same way the people determined that President Rawlings will be our leader, the same way people determined President Mills to be our leader, the same way people determined President Mahama will be our leader and he was our leader and if the people determine that leadership should rotate I will respect that decision of the people and respect the leader at any point in time", he said on Montie FM on Thursday.

His explanation, however, has not gone down well with former Ashanti Regional Secretary of the party, Joseph Yamin who seem to agree with Appiah Stadium's allegations.

In an interview with Kasapa FM on Friday, Yamin, who served as a deputy minister for Youth and Sports in the Mahama administration was of the opinion that since there is no official contest for the flagbearership of the NDC, Koku Anyidoho could have said same for former President Mahama as he did for the late President Mills without it being misconstrued as an endorsement.

As if all these troubles and divisions are not enough, information primenewsghana has gathered indicate that the NDC's General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia who is popularly referred to as General Mosquito, and the National Organiser, Kofi Adams are not on talking terms.

According to our source, the two who were the party's 2016 Campaign chairman and coordinator respectively, have been at loggerheads for a very long time and have just been pretending to be on good terms when in public.

It is not yet clear why they are not talking but our source believes that it may be related to Kofi Adams' suspension in March 2012 as both a national executive and a member of the party which eventually cost him his parliamentary ambition at the time.

Kofi Adams who was the Deputy General Secretary of the party was suspended following the emergence of a tape with a voice purported to be his was heard saying in a conversation that he will do everything possible to prevent the late President Mills from securing the mandate of Ghanaians for a second term.

The suspension made him lose the opportunity to represent the people of Buem Constituency in the Volta Region as he was disqualified by the National Executive Committee (NEC) from contesting in the NDC primaries to find a candidate to replace the MP, Henry Ford Kamel who had passed on.

Kofi Adams' suspension was lifted almost a year after and he and General Mosquito have not been on very good terms since.

With such accusations and revelations coming at this time, it is obvious that the NDC chose to paper over the cracks within the party and may have to do lot more work if they are to win back power in 2020 as they have been continuously telling their supporters.