NDC National Chairmanship race: Violence is chosen over peace

The national executive elections of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which was held on December 17 2022, was virtually reduced to a competition between two people.

The fierce nature of the chairmanship race between the former General Secretary, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, and the outgoing chairman, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, over shadowed the whole contest.

Typical of every electoral contest, issues had to be raised so were they. However, the issues both teams raised were illogical except one.

The Genreal Mosquito led team shocked Ghanaians when they tried to blame the failures of the party in the 2020 elections on the Pentecost Elder led team. For instance, they accused the Pentecost elder led team for engaging incompetent team to collate their election results, something they claim affected their chances of winning the elections.

On their part, the Pentecost Elder led team also tried to covert credit for the successes the party chalked in the 2020 elections. For instance, they credited only Chairman Ofosu Ampofo for the One Million plus votes the party had over the previous elections.

These arguments, however, appear quite illogical. The party went into the elections as a team with every department assigned a role to play. So it is the collective effort of all the various departments and their members that gave them their final results.

As indicated earlier, there was one other issue that could pass the test of logic. This bothered on violence and peace.

Shockingly, Mr Asiedu Nketia and his team accused Mr Ofosu Ampofo of being very peaceful. Some of the supporters of the Chairman elect could openly suggest that Mr Ampofo's peaceful nature could be attributed to his Pentecost background.

On the other hand, they described Mr Asiedu Nketia as a fearless person. The Chairman elect also reechoed this when he blamed his contender for advising the NDC to withdraw from the 2019 Ayawaso West-Wagon bye election, following the chaos that erupted.

Mr Ampofo admitted being peaceful as he argued that elections are won with good strategies and not violence. On the issue of withdrawing from the bye elections, he said he put the lives of Ghanaians over all other considerations. To him, it was better for the party and other stake holders to pick lessons from that event and prevent similar occurrence in the future than allowing people to die.

At the end of the day, the NDC delegates rejected the man his opponents described as peaceful. In his stead, they chose the fearless man who is always seen wearing war instigated smock anytime he is performing political duties.

The open endorsement of violence over peace by the NDC is enough caution to the security agencies. The peace of the nation cannot be sacrificed for the parachial, partisan interest of any power thirsty organisation.

It would not be fair to describe Mr Asiedu Nketia as a violent person but it is also puzzling for Mr Ofosu Ampofu to be rejected on grounds of being peaceful.

That said, all bodies that have one role or the other to play in the organisation of the 2024 general elections must do their work in a fair and transparent manner to deny any war lord the excuse of plunging the country into war.

The author is a social commentator

By Bala Ali