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15.10.2007 NDC

NDC Is A Loser-Bede

By Daily Guide
NDC Is A Loser-Bede
15.10.2007 LISTEN

BARELY THREE weeks after Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah, former national chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) predicted the party's doom in next year's elections, Mr. Bede Ziedeng, former chief scribe of the party has also expressed the wish that the party loses the polls.

Mr. Bede Ziedeng said with characters like Johnson Asiedu Nketia leading the party to engage in a competitive electoral battle with other political parties including the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), the NDC has lost the 2008 elections in advance.

Mr. Ziedeng, currently deputy general secretary of the newly formed Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), stated that under no circumstances could NDC win the 2008 elections with Asiedu Nketia leading the party as its general secretary.

“I am telling you, the NDC has lost the elections in advance because personalities like its general secretary do not have the capacity to discuss and analyze issues. What they have learnt to do best is to insult people.

“Having a bunch of hooligans to cheer you up is not intelligence. Intelligence is about debates and discussions,” he noted.

As to whether Asiedu Nketia, former MP for Amenfi West is intelligent, Bede Ziedeng said he would leave that to the public to judge.

Mr. Ziedeng, who launched the attacks on the NDC and its apparatchiks on Hello FM, a local radio station in Kumasi during its mid-day news bulletin on Thursday, was reacting to insults allegedly heaped on him earlier by Asiedu Nketia on the same medium.

Asiedu Nketia, also known as General Mosquito probably due to his smallish stature, was said to have insulted Mr. Bede Zeideng that he was a big fool, a remark the DFP man described as rather unfortunate.

Bede Ziedeng who parted ways with the NDC after the violent-ridden Koforidua congress in 1996, said he was not surprised at all about Asiedu Nketia's conduct since insults had become the hallmark of his former party.

“Insults, fighting, beating of innocent people and disgraceful conducts are the trademark of the NDC. That is the main reason why most of us left the party.”

He noted that aside being older than Asiedu Nketia, he was general secretary before him, so the NDC chief scribe ought to have shown him some respect.

“His actions show the hypocrisy in the NDC because they engineer people to insult others. Today, Asiedu Nketia will hear what he wants to hear,” he stated.

Mr. Ziedeng contended that his assessment of the NDC's electoral performances showed that his former party had been experiencing what he termed as declining fortunes.

He maintained that in 1992, NDC won 187 seats in Parliament, in 1996 when other parties came in, the party got 133 seats and in 2000, the seats were reduced to 93, representing 46.5 per cent.

The figure, he indicated, reduced in 2004 to 40.8 per cent, because out of the 230 seats in Parliament, the NDC managed to sweep 94 with just an additional one.

“This shows that the NDC has been experiencing declining fortunes for which reason they decided to insult us at Koforidua and chased us away, so they are going to lose further,” he told listeners.

The DFP guru averred that even though they implemented effective plans for the party during their tenure, it performed badly, so without them NDC would again lose miserably in 2008.

Mr. Ziedeng described the Koforidua congress of the NDC in 1996 as the worst that a political party has held in the nation's history.

“Ask Asiedu Nketia why and how Dr. Obed Asamoah left the congress hall. Ask where he took Dr. Asamoah to from the congress hall?” he asked rhetorically.

The DFP man pledged clean political utterances devoid of insults, adding that the leadership of the DFP would continue to analyze the political situation in the country.

He said DFP has more political experience than the NDC, and that NDC cannot compare its leaders to DFP's, stressing that with experienced politicians like Dr. Asamoah, Nii Okaija Adamafio, Lawyer Kwaku Baah, George Amekah, Alhaji Bawa, Abraham Kofi Asante and Nii Kwei Addison, the NDC cannot match the DFP.

Bede Ziedeng said the leading experienced politicians NDC can boast of today include Dr. Kwabena Adjei, Asiedu Nketia and Ama Benyiwa Doe.

From James Quansah & Fred J.A Ibrahim Jnr., Kumasi

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