Kwesi Botchway C’ttee Presents NDC Election Defeat Report

The 13-member committee set up by the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to probe its defeat in the 2016 election, has presented its findings to the National Executive Council (NEC) today, June 19, 2017.

As part of its recommendations, the committee has asked the party to take a holistic look at the party's biometric electoral register.

The 55-paged report, titled, 'listening to the grassroot', said the NDC must take urgent steps to restore the integrity of the register.

Speaking at the presentation of the report, the Chairman of the Committee, Prof. Kwesi Botchwey, expressed hope that the recommendations will help capture power for the NDC in the next elections in 2020.

He said the mood of anger and disappointment among some party members and some leaders was understandable it was important for “elders and eminent people go round to sooth people and calm tempers to restore an environment of trust and unity in the party so as to create the foundation for the party's restructuring.”

The committee had been touring the country and meeting with various individuals and groups to gather information for the past four months, on what accounted for its loss in the polls.

The 90-day deadline given to the committee, which was led by Prof. Kwasi Botchway to complete its work, was not met, and the committee was given an extension by the leadership of the NDC.

The committee became necessary after leading members of the party started pointing fingers at each other after the defeat.

According to the General Secretary of the party, Asiedu Nketia, who announced the setup of the committee, the committee was to “review and validate the results of the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections and find out the causes of the poor performance of the NDC in both the presidential and the parliamentary election, as well as to deal with other matter reasonably related to the above objectives and to make recommendations to the National Executive Committee about the way forward.”

The committee's work faced a number of challenges including some youth preventing one of its meetings in the Eastern Region from being held.

Members of the committee are;

1. Kwesi Botchwey
2. Edward Doe Adjaho (Former Speaker of Parliament)
3. Alhaji Hudu Yahaya
4. Naval Capt. Asase Gyimah
5. William Ahadzi (director of research at the NDC headquarters)
6. Ibrahim Zuberu, (Lecturer at Accra Technical University and member of NDC)
7. Razak Abu (Researcher at NDC's Development Challenge)
8. Juliana Azumah Mensah (Former MP for Agotime-Ziope)
9. Barbara Serwah Asamoah
10. Four (4) members from NDC parliamentary caucus (including Minority Leader)