15 Men To Make Or Break NDC

Asiedu Nketiah, General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress

Kofi Poturphy, National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), last week made public the names of some 15 persons the party had concluded as the official members of the campaign team tasked to retain the party in government.

DAYBREAK takes a critical look at some of the names on the team, which many have described as ‘uninspiring’ and expressed surprise that the NDC considers these 15 names as the best selection that can help win the 2016 polls.

As the NDC constitution states, the party General Secretary chairs the campaign and Asiedu Nketia’s competency at that is never in doubt.

Neither is the competency of Kofi Adams as Campaign Coordinator in doubt though many have expressed concern whether the two, (Kofi Adams and Asiedu Nketia) would make a perfect pair considering the recent acrimonious relationship between them.

Some of the names however make one wonder whether the NDC as a party really believes it has selected the best men and has made maximum use of the party’s human resource.

Kofi Totobi Quakye
Totobi is 61. He is a tactful strategist who operates from the background and achieves results. He is arguable the longest serving Minister for Information Ghana ever had and was head of National Security under the Jerry Rawlings-led government.

Totobi Quakye is a ‘election winning machine’ and falls under the ‘old dogs’ category who were only used by the NDC in winning elections then dumped afterwards with no proper appointments coming their way.

Prior to the 2008 elections, Totobi was one of the persons who birthed the ‘WAHALA’ demonstrations which made the NPP government very unpopular. He and a few others, Dr. Tony Aidoo, the ‘Ahwoi’ brothers and Kwesi Pratt literally bent over backwards just to create headache for the Koffour administration.

After the NDC won and President Atta Mills was sworn into office, Totobi was relegated to the background. Perhaps the party felt he had completed the dirty job of cracking the hard kennels and therefore had to step aside for more favoured ones to nourish themselves with the juice and oil.

Just as the proverbial cat, that after feasting on the stolen cheese wipes it’s hands on the lips of the sleeping mouse, the NDC-government, at the eleventh hour found some negligible appointment of some sort for Totobi. He did not turn it down.

He comes to the campaign with some 30-years of strategic political experience and would be a precious asset only if his independent ideas would be accepted and respected.

Theophilus Tetteh Chai/ Sherry Ayittey

Tetteh Chai is MP for Ablekuman Central who could not even win his constituency primaries to get him retained yet he is selected to join a team that would generate some critical ideas that would win a national election.

Very unpopular in his own constituency and at best he is not someone who can attract votes even in his own backyard. Yet he was the one the Majority deemed fit to join such a crucial campaign team.

Perhaps Tetteh Chai’s name on the campaign team is just to appease the Ga and Adangbe community just as Sherry Ayittey’s name on the list is expected to do.

Two weak ‘Gadangbe’ apostles who have very insignificant or absolutely no clouts among the very people they are supposed to appeal to.

It has become evident the NDC needs a ‘Ga/Dangbe name’ but detests a Ga/Dangbe voice.

There are several Ga/Dangbe names in the party but not all of them represent Ga/Dangbe voices and faces. The selection of Tetteh Chai and Sherry Ayittey as against the calibers of Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, Sylvester Mensah, ET Mensah, Oko Vanderpuije,

This anomaly is happening at a time the NDC lacks the courage to stand behind Nii Armah Ashittey in his bid to contest the Korley Klottey but closed a blind eye for Zenator Agyeman-Rawlings to sneak through under rather interesting circumstances.

The NDC’s current relationship with the Ga/Dangme fraternity is not same as the prior 200 elections with the party had renowned Ga/Dangbe faces and voices ranging from Nii Okaija Adamafio, Adjei Boye Sekan, David Lamptey, Justice DF Annan, Joshua Alabi and other high ranking voices in its forefront.

Daniel Ohene Agyekum
Daniel Ohene-Agyekum, a 74-year old retired diplomat, popular for invoking the anger of the dreaded ‘anota’ deity against his political opponents and coming public to defend the act.

It is difficult to understand how the NDC would insist that at age 72, Nana Akufo Addo, presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, does not have much to offer Ghana because of his “old age”, yet the same NDC would appoint a 74 year old man as a ‘fit-enough’ member of the party’s campaign team.

Again one wonders the exact role and job definition of Ohene-agyekum on the campaign team list.

Alhaji Huudu Yahaya
Alhaji Huudu Yahaya is a former NDC Vice Chair, former NDC General Secretary and a brother in law of President Mahama.

He recently withdrew his candidature to contest Kofi Portuphy for the NDC chair. During the contest, the type of things that were said against him by some NDC members are better left unpublished.

When Huudu Yahaya stepped down, it was speculated that some high ranking persons in the NDC convinced him to. There is no evidence to the fact that his inclusion on the campaign team is to appease him for that decision but it is a possibility.

Huudu Yahaya is in the same category with Daniel Ohene Agyekum and one wonders what exactly he brings to the team

Joyce Mogtari Bawa
She, the Campaign Spokesperson, is the deputy Minister for Transport and blood relation, specifically niece of President Mahama. Her face, filed experience and ability to deliver remain relatively un-known.

The ability to communicate well is not a reliable criteria for selecting a spokesperson for a political campaign team tasked to win national elections in Ghana.

Understanding the political terrain and having gone through the mill as well as reliable contacts and good rapport with the media and party is even a more useful tool than having mere information on communication skills. In the political world, information without experience is not knowledge. But she is the president’s niece and this may be a signal for her to prepare to move from deputy to substantive Minister if the NDC is retained.

Hannah Tetteh, during the last election earned the admiration of many, even persons outside her party, for the role she played as Campaign Spokesperson. Many have expressed disappointment about her absence in this team.

DAYBREAK would continue with analysis on the other members: Faustina Nelson, Alhaji Shasu Kwakwa, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Sylvia Osei, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, Dan Abodakpi and Madam Sylvia Osei.