NDC, DFP Re-Unite
After seven years of secession and months of comeback talks, the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) has finally re-united with its roots, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in a deal that is expected to boost the fortunes of the NDC in the December general election.
Unity talks between the two parties had been initiated in 2011 and, having finally clinched the deal, the NDC is expected to benefit from some 27,889 votes garnered by the DFP presidential candidate in the 2008 polls, Mr Emmanuel Ansah-Antwi, all things being equal.
Addressing a joint news conference at the NDC Headquarters at Kokomlemle in Accra Tuesday to consummate the re-union and communicate same to the public, the leadership of the two parties pledged to put their past differences behind them, strengthen their bond of unity and work assiduously towards electoral victory in December.
“We are happy to be back and we can assure you that we are ready to work and together with our brothers in the NDC. We will see how to plan ahead,” the Founder and Life Patron of the DFP, Dr Obed Yao Asamoah, stated.
The consummation of the re-union means the DFP ceases to be a political party henceforth and that understanding will be communicated to the Electoral Commission (EC) in due course for it to expunge the name of the party from the roll of registered political parties.
But that exercise may not be as significant as the homecoming ceremony at the NDC Headquarters when Dr Asamoah and the DFP General Secretary, Mr Bede Ziedeng, both former National Chairman and General Secretary, respectively, of the NDC, made a memorable return to the offices they had once operated from.
Wearing white jumpers with mufflers in the NDC colours of red, black, green and white around their necks, the two prodigal stalwarts of the NDC could not help savouring the fanfare that heralded their homecoming, and for Dr Asamoah in particular, his hands kept clapping in tune with a party anthem he is so familiar with.
Scores of enthusiastic NDC supporters, in a state of euphoria akin to the ecstasy that greeted the return home of the prodigal son in the Biblical tale, could not hide their excitement to see the return of well-known faces such as Nii Okaidja Adamafio (Chairman of the DFP), Emmanuel Ansah-Antwi (DFP 2008 flag bearer), Osei Piesie-Anto (DFP National Organiser), John Ameka (DFP Deputy General Secretary) and other national and regional executive members of the party.
The significance of the occasion was underlined by the presence of the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama; the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Sherry Ayittey; the Deputy Minister of the Interior, Kobbie Acheampong; a Deputy Chief of Staff, Alex Segbefia, some government officials and representatives of all the NDC regional executives.
Conspicuously missing among the dignitaries, however, was the Founder of the NDC, former President Jerry John Rawlings, around whom the secession and re-union had evolved.
The DFP shot off from the NDC following the infamous and acrimonious national delegates congress of the latter in Koforidua in 2005, at the end of which the delegates destooled Dr Asamoah as National Chairman, while some of his loyalists suffered physical assault at the hands of elements who sought to establish the authority of former President Rawlings from a challenge posed by Dr Asamoah at that time.
Unhappy with those developments, Dr Asamoah subsequently led some key figures in the NDC to secede from the party and form the DFP, accusing the NDC of lacking internal democracy, being violent in nature and hostile to people who held divergent views from kingpins of the party, in apparent reference to former President Rawlings.
Conscious of the promise that the merger holds for the NDC, and aware of the need to patch old wounds, Vice-President Mahama advised party members to manage their internal differences in a manner that would not hurt the political fortunes of the NDC.
“Don’t be like the chicken that eats its own eggs or kills its own chicks,” he advised.
He expressed optimism that the NDC would win the December polls one-touch, adding that given the good job President Mills had done in three-and-a-half years, Ghanaians would surely renew his mandate.
The National Chairman of the NDC, Dr Kwabena Adjei, lauded President Mills for initiating the re-union of the two parties, saying, “He’s a man who works for peace.”
He promised to accord the returnee NDC faithful all the needed support to ensure their speedy integration into the party.
Mr Asiedu-Nketiah, who read the joint statement at the news conference, said under the terms of the merger, two national executive members of the DFP would be co-opted as national executive members of the NDC.
He said at least one executive member of the DFP at the regional and constituency levels would also be co-opted into the regional and constituency executive structures of the NDC.
For his part, Mr Ziedeng said now that the merger had been sealed, “any individual (from the DFP) who decides hereafter to make statements to the media is entitled to his views but does not speak on behalf of anyone”.