Why is ‘Mahama’s NDC’ getting rid of Mills’s and Rawlings’s followers?

The recent removal of the erstwhile Deputy General Secretary of NDC, Koku Anyidoho, and the former Central Regional Chairman of NDC, Allotey Jacobs from the Umbrella fraternity has somehow reinforced the sceptics assertion of a certain conspiratorial plot to ostracise Mills and Rawlings’s followers.

If you may remember, following the unfortunate exit of the loyal and hardworking ‘Otians (the indigenes of Oti Region) and Voltarians’(the indigenes of Volta Region) from the NDC’s National Executives during the 2018 National Congress prompted some critical observers to raise concerns of a possible attempt to ostracise the executives from the aforementioned regions.

The thoughtful critics maintained that the hardworking and dedicated Otians and Voltarians were humiliated in the NDC’s 2018 National Congress for a reason.

The critics however insisted that the majority of the Otians and Voltarians who were voted out on Saturday 17th November 2018 were unrepentant critics of NDC’s 2020 flagbearer, former President Mahama.

While some observers were suggesting somewhat poignantly that the NDC Delegates did not take into account the all-important factor of regionalism and went ahead and ousted the Otians and Voltarians from the National Executives, others were insisting somewhat ponderously that the critics were stoking tensions by raising the otherwise germane question of regional balance.

In fact, it was not entirely correct for the sceptics to suggest that those who were raising the crucial question of regional balance were ‘bang out of order’.

For if anything at all, the 1992 Constitution promotes ‘regionalism’. Take, for example, Ghana’s Constitution obligates the elected presidents to ensure regional balance when selecting the members of the government.

We should, therefore, commend the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for putting pragmatic measures in place to remedy such unforeseen occurrences during the 2018 internal elections.

The NPP prudently decided to select the deputies of most positions so as to ensure the regional balance.

The positions include the National Organiser, the National Youth Organiser, the General Secretary and the Women’s Organiser.

Suffice it to stress that the inexplicable ousting of the Otians and Voltarians from the NDC’s National Executives will continue to generate debate amongst discerning Ghanaians.

To be quite honest, I find it really difficult to believe why the NDC apparatchiks always find it so expedient to take the good people of Oti and Volta Regions for granted.

The notion that the people of both Oti and Volta Regions are ever content with any decision by the party and therefore can never turn their backs on the NDC is quite unfair, just to say the least.

I have stressed time and time again that there is absolutely nothing wrong for voters to have a preferred political party. However, voters must not and cannot allow manipulating politicians to take them for a ride in perpetuity.


The overarching question then is: how long will the NDC apparatchiks continue to give the good people of the Oti and Volta Regions a raw deal?

Indeed, there is absolutely nothing wrong with political parties to have party precincts or strongholds.

Likewise, it is not abominable for individuals to have a political party preference, as it is acceptable in even the most advanced democracies.

That being said, unlike the voters in developing countries, the vast majority of voters in the developed countries do not vote for voting sake.

In other words, voters in advanced democracies mostly vote on the issues that affect their lives.

It was against such backdrop that the vast majority of the UK Labour Party supporters in Scotland voted against their party in the 2015 general elections for failing to live up to their expectations.

We should, however, not lose sight of the fact that an election is supposed to be a social contract that exists between a party/candidate and a voter. In essence, the party/candidate solicits for votes from potential voters in exchange of provision of relevant human needs.

It is based on such agreement that the various parties choose to enter into contract with Ghanaians during general elections.

As a matter of fact, we choose to exercise our democratic rights during general elections in anticipation that our lives would be transformed positively.

But the all-important question every Ghanaian should be asking is: did our lives transform positively under the erstwhile NDC government?

No, the vast majority of Ghanaians became worst off in terms of the socio-economic standards of living under the NDC administration.

In effect, the NDC disappointed the vast majority of Ghanaians, including the voters from the NDC’s ‘World Bank’-Volta Region.

It was, therefore, not the least surprising that prior to the 2016 general elections, some noble Chiefs from the Volta Region were reported to have complained bitterly about the harsh economic conditions the Mahama government wilfully imposed on innocent Ghanaians, including their subordinates.

In fact, it is somewhat heartrending to keep listening to the NDC apparatchiks impetuous argument that the people of Volta Region are ever content with their lives under NDC governments and therefore cannot see why Voltarians would turn their backs on the NDC.

Well, let the NDC apparatchiks keep taking the good people of Oti and Volta Regions for granted at their own peril.

If you may remember, it was former President Kufuor who erected the Keta Sea Defence to ensure that the good people of the Volta Region are safe from ‘Tsunami’ or seismic sea waves.

In ending, I will venture to state that the leadership of NDC should refrain from taking the NDC loyal supporters from the Oti and Volta Regions for granted.

K. Badu, UK.

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