The National Executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have been asked to resign to pave way for an independent inquest into what led to the party's embarrassing defeat in the just-ended general elections.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) defeated incumbent President John Dramani Mahama of the NDC with a margin of over one million votes in the December 7, 2016 polls, making the latter Ghana's first one-term president.
The NDC 2016 Elections Coordinator, Kofi Adams, had accepted responsibility for the party's abysmal performance at the polls, blaming the defeat on what he termed 'IT failure.'
But addressing the media on Wednesday at its inaugural ceremony in Accra, the Crusade for Probity and Accountability (CPA), a pro-NDC think-tank, said the leadership of the party should step aside to allow for thorough investigation into the circumstances that actually led to the NDC's electoral defeat.
The group is said to be aligned with former President Jerry John Rawlings.
Convener of CPA, Dr. Kwesi Djokoto, in a statement said, “In the interest of the party, the national party leadership should offer the best Christmas gift to the party, especially its grassroot supporters, by communicating to the Council of Elders their decision to step aside en bloc at the earliest day possible.
“This will trigger the much-needed inquest into the activities of the party at the branch, constituency, regional and national levels that led to the miserable defeat. An accurate diagnosis is the first step towards recovery,” he said.
Many Ghanaians have attributed the defeat of the NDC to mismanagement of the country's economy and corruption by the Mahama administration.
Allegation
CPA did not rule out the allegations of corruption against the NDC government as a cause for its defeat, but said that the probe should be conducted to really expose those who might have been perpetrating such corrupt acts within the hierarchy of the party itself.
Citing possible reasons for the NDC's defeat, CPA alleged that “On election day, thousands of supporters were stranded and eventually did not vote as a result of very poor transport arrangements.”
The think-tank added that “there had been countless complaints of the party structure being ignored in numerous instances. The above were symptoms of a malfunctioning system which were broadly left unaddressed by leadership.”
It noted, “The performance by the NDC in this year's elections will go down as the most abysmal and dreadful by any major political party in the history of Ghana.
“The picture of the monumental failure is even clearer when it is compared to the 2012 performance of the NDC.”
Deceit
According to CPA, “The national leadership of the party through deceit almost led the teeming supporters of the NDC on a needless collision course which could have resulted in casualties.”
Dr. Kwesi Djokoto
By Melvin Tarlue
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