NDC faces post-election rifts – Amoako Baah

Cracks are certain to emerge within the ranks of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), which is set for another spell in opposition, fresh from its electoral defeat on Wednesday December 7, political scientist Dr Richard Amoako Baah has predicted.

The party’s candidate and incumbent President John Mahama failed to secure the mandate of Ghanaians for a second four-year term, losing out to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who polled 53.85 per cent of votes to 44.40 per cent for John Mahama.

With the NDC set for at least four years on the sidelines with respect to administration of the country from January 7, 2017 when power is handed over, Dr Amoako Baah foresees infighting within the party that has governed the country for a cumulative 16 years since the return to multi-party democracy in 1992 under three different leaders – founder Jerry John Rawlings, John Atta Mills, and John Mahama.

Speaking to Nana Ama Agyarko on Accra News on Saturday December 10, the academic wondered who was “going to be in charge” of the NDC as it begins a new phase in opposition, quite sure a leadership crisis would emerge.

According to him, with the party looking for inspiration, he foresees the Rawlings faction “stepping up to the task” of controlling affairs, though “there is going to be a lot of splits, a lot of divisions, fights…” to oppose it, similar to disturbances that plagued the NPP after being dislodged from power in 2008. “So let’s wait and see how it’s going to go,” he added.

Though he did not rule out the NDC’s return to the power, Dr Amoako Baah said the road back to the Flagstaff House could be a long one. “I can’t say they will not make it back to power, but it will be very difficult,” he stated, wondering that with the NDC out of power, “where will the money be coming from?”

“There is always hope, but it will take a lot of work because I suspect that NDC is going to be divided up,” he predicted.